The wind roars across vast plains of smooth white stone, bounded by unmoving oceans of salt water. There are no trees, no mountains, no clouds. Little for the eye to focus on. This is the World just moments after its creation. The Gods, in one of their myriad debates on the form of the World, declared the Sea and the Land divided by the Coast. As a means to settle the argument on the form this Coast should take, it was decided that it would be essentially random, so no God would have a hand in carving the Land. (Be thankful, the Coast could have been kilometer long letters spelling out names of the more audacious Gods, or worse.)

The World is infinite, but venture too far in any one direction and you'll cross into the badlands, deserts of nothingness where life withers and dies, where universal and eventually even mathematical constants begin to break down.

Standing in the Centre (a sacred place, where magical energy crackles and roils in the air), the Godheart appears directly above, as though it were always midday in high Summer. Toward the edges it gets cooler, and far into the badlands it drops below freezing. Over the year, the Godheart breathes. During Winter, the World stretches slightly, pulling space further from the warmth of the Godheart. During Summer, space contracts, warming the land. At night, the Starlines ripple across the Sky, seeming to stretch to the horizon all around.

The World belongs to no one God.

Powers

| Land

| Races

| Relations

Shape Land

| 3

| 5

| 8

Shape Climate

| 2

| 4

| 6

Create Race

| 22

| 6

| 15

Create Subrace

| 12

| 4

| 10

Command Race**

| 8

| 4

| 3

--Create City**

| 8

| 4

| 3

Command City**

| 6

| 4

| 2

--Create Army**

| 6

| 4

| 2

Advance Civilization

| 10

| 5

| 6

Advance City

| 8

| 4

| 5

Purify Civ. +1 Align *

| 5

| 3

| 4

Corrupt Civ. -1 Align *

| 4

| 3

| 3

Purify City +1 Align *

| 4

| 3

| 3

Corrupt City -1 Align *

| 3

| 2

| 2

Event

| 10

| 7

| 9

Create Order

| 8

| 6

| 4

Command Order

| 4

| 3

| 2

Create Avatar

| 10

| 7

| 8

Command Avatar

| 2

| 1

| 1

Catastrophe

| 10

| 10

| 10

|

|

|

House Rules

Ramping Avatar Cost: Usually this isn't a huge problem but its nice to have a rule to fall back on. The first avatar you purchase is at the listed cost, the second is a listed cost +1, 3rd at +2, 4th at +3, 5th at +5 and so on in the Fibonacci sequence.

Flat Army Cost: Due to previous games often getting bogged down in horrible army spam Armies can no longer be acquired more cheaply using avatars. All armies now cost (6/4/2) regardless of whether they were created by a city, an order or an avatar.

Garrisons: All cities count as having a single army which can only be used to defend the city in the event of an attack.

War and Chance: When rolling to resolve combat between armies a roll of two 1s always counts as a failure, regardless of any bonuses that army has, a roll of two 6s always count as a success.

Fate:Fate is a "Virtual Player" which is under the collective control of the other players via popular vote, and represents the blind forces of random chance which affect the world. Fate receives 2d6+3 power points every turn and loses all unspent points at the end of a round. Players can propose an action for Fate to take in the ooc thread and if the action gains a simple majority in a vote then the action will be taken.

Free Advance Race on Creation:When a player uses Create Race or Create Subrace and makes a new race they can automatically give the new race an advancement as if they had used the "advance race" power.

Other Race Freebies: On creation a race or subrace can be given one square of territory OR a single city as if the creator had used the Command Race power.

Spreading territory:Players can use Command Race to increase the territorial area a race covers by one square (the same square that was used as a guideline for the terraforming powers). This isn't political territory, it literally just represents the lands in which the race is commonly found living.

[u]Actions[/u][b][Action name][/b][Description of above action][Roleplaying/flavour notes, if required][b][Action name][/b][Description of above action][Roleplaying/flavour notes, if required]Any objections or suggestions for improvement?

ARCS Log (New and Improved!)

Avatars, Races, Cities and Sects. In the past they were tracked with a horribly bloated, ever-lengthening list which had to be compiled every round. Now I have a Google Doc which can be updated by everyone in real-time. Please log any changes you make and actions you take in the ARCS doc:

ActionsThe Pointed LandThe flatness of the world was displeasing to the Ternion and it set to work piling the land up higher, which naturally formed mounds which were broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. These were the first mountains.

DustAs the Ternion raised up the mountains the rock was ground into a fine sand, which poured out across the flat white rock of the virgin world. The Ternion instantly disliked this chaotic sand, and its irritating tendency to get everywhere, and tried to form it into a pleasing shape, but the wind soon blew away the straight lines and angles. The Ternion withdrew to meditate on this.

ActionsMore MountainsLod saw the pointed land created by The Ternion and was inspired. Between the two of the largest inland seas he carved a mountain range of his own. As he heaped the jagged tops of the mountains higher, water rushed down through the troughs he left behind, forming wide rivers between the lofty peaks.

ActionshuehuehueSeeing the Ternions frustration with the newfound mountains, and knowing of his obsession with trigonometry, Eua decided to set a precedent for mischief in the world. Let's just say we got some mesas.

ActionsPrivate IslandThe God Eater surveyed the land that had come into view. It was looking for something specific. Small, out of the way, easy to keep watch over. There seemed to be lots of places surrounded by sea and those seemed best. But the God Eater didn't want to be so far away from all the action, either. A small patch of land near the center of the continent was the best bet. Using its power, the God Eater made the tiny island warmer and wetter. The energy from the Godheart could easily wash over entire bay that the island sat in.

Might as well enjoy it!Seeing its new creation, the God Eater had a sudden thought and was dumbstruck. What good was a comfortable place to live if It was stuck in the Void? That just would not do! The God Eater focused its energy onto its tiny island paradise and its presence vanished from the void entirely. A huge crack of thunder shook the young world as the God Eater landed. The ground beneath its two long legs had turned to glass and strange lines and patterns were etched into its surface. Three eyes darted about, taking in the unfamiliar world of the physical. The God Eater had taken on a female form, roughly eight feet tall with four arms, two on each side. In one of its hands was a long staff made from an unknown substance. It shimmered and words seemed to race about just beneath its surface. The God Eater's tool, the Staff of Soul Dominion had also taken a physical form.

The God Eater peered down at its feet and spied something strange creeping up from the soil. Tiny green sprouts had begun to rise up from around the edges of the glass circle that marked the god's entrance into the world. The God Eater sat down on the glass surface and watched the sprouts grow. This was something unexpected.

ActionsThe Fractal RangeInspired by the work of other gods, The Throok also decided to create mountains. Reaching out to the bare stone with the Fractal Tool, mountains reared up from the ground and reached north until they circled in on themselves. They formed a regular pattern with the tallest mountains at the point of origin, decreasing in size until they were imperceptible. The mountain range was very pleasing to The Throok.

Mud PlainsHowever, the vast stretches of stone seemed boring and uniform. The Throok felt that there needed to be more variation in climate and terrain, and reached out again to touch the stone near the coast. The stone shattered and broke down into simpler components and was mixed with rich waters off the coast, forming a vast plain of slick clay and mud. This region seemed very malleable and fertile with possibilities.

ActionsSteal SoliditySeeing the dust thrown up by the Ternion's mountains, Borishin is intrigued. The earth is solid, the sea flows, and that is the shape of the world. To have it otherwise... With a deft snip of his shears, he strips the solidity from a vast swath of formerly rigid stone, ruding it to so much sand.

RedistributeFor a moment, Borishin revels in the weight and purpose of the essence he's taken from the land. It was designed to resist change, yet none shall resist him. Still, so much weight will only slow him, and he has need of speed. Reluctantly, he casts the stolen solidity into the sea, freezing a massive shelf into ice.

« Last Edit: March 09, 2014, 07:43:28 pm by Neoadept »

Logged

Nefarious? Nearly. Ne’er-do-well? Never! Neither nearly names this narrator. Naive and knowledgeable, notorious and inscrutable, this nascent Nero is known naturally as Neoadept.

ActionsThe NobodiesVex the Author is compelled to write of the deeds and heroes of the Nobodies."In the beginning, the Nobodies dominated the World. Their twin Nobody cities of Nowhere and Neverthere were the jewels of their civilization. They wielded their Nothing with great skill, and the empty white plains of their empire stretched everywhere. Their folly was in the creation of No One. They could not see it, but No One and Nothing could stop Nobody. Their empire slowly fell to the power of the new Gods, bringing perception and action to the World."

ActionsComplete The WallLod was fascinated by the mountains that he had sculpted, and so once more struck the land with his Tool and once more the land erupted into lofty mountain peaks and deep, river-filled valleys. As he gazed upon his work, Lod noticed that his long mountain chains now blocked the Northern end of the continent off from the South. While unintended, Lod was pleased with the end result of this massive wall.

Seed the LandWhile focusing on the North, Lod's gaze ventured to the inland sea and the God Eater's island. There he saw the curious green sprouts that spread rapidly across the surface of the land. Lod marveled at the idea of terrain that could spread on it's own, and so took some of the vegetation over the sea to the mainland in the North. The sprouts took well to the cool damp climate, and grew strong and tall into the first forests of the World.

ActionsMountains and RiversIgnoring Eua's antics, the Ternion makes pointed mountains anew, and calls down rain in the hopes of washing away the shifting dust. Instead the raid forms the channels of five times three rivers.

Although the rain could not completely obey the One who is Three, for the Ternion's nature is divergent to that of the multitudinous drops, the rain sought to please the one which had summoned it, and formed into channels of a number pleasing to the Ternion and formed the Great Three-Five-Rivers, which the heretics call the Great Five-Three-Rivers - Excerpt from Holy Text

Sand and MudThe dust from the raising of the mountains again spilled out over the smooth, white plains. Where the rivers flowed the sand became clay and mud, like that which the Throok had cultivated in on the other side of the world.

Actionsew gross slimeyWater just isn't fun. Eua thinks to herself. You try to pick it up and it just runs through your fingers. What we need... is slime. She takes up some of the sprouts from the north and touches them to the water of a wide and untouched sea to the south. Algae blooms as far as the eye can see, turning the water a million shades of blue and green.

ActionsLet there be LIFE!!The God Eater was fascinated by the strange growth that had overtaken its island. Another god had even come around to marvel at it. Lod was its name. The God Eater liked Lod a lot better than the last god it had met.

Short, leafy cover danced in wind that blew across the small sea, and the God Eater marveled that such a thing could be. And then, struck with inspiration, the God Eater began to focus its power once more. If clover was the result of a little bit of power, then a lot of power would surely lead to something even more impressive! A rumbling began to come from the earth that sent ripples to every corner of the sea. The tiny plants that covered the God Eater's small island twisted and stretched. Trees began to claw their way toward the Godheart and ferns of all shapes, sizes, and colors exploded into life. The air became heavier and a mist hung low along the carpet of thick grass. All across the island a lush jungle of beautiful colors and wonderful perfumes grew into existence. Roots carved through stone and opened up new channels, and all across the island the pleasant sound of water falling began to emerge. The God Eater was very satisfied with this.

Gated CommunityBut not for long! Because as the God Eater surveyed the new paradise that it had created, it realized that others would surely covet it. Even the thought of facing a god as mighty as the God Eater would not be enough for some. The island shook once more and the small sea trembled. Huge plumes of bubbles erupted from the seabed and the earth heaved upwards. Much like the mountains the other gods had created, the God Eater also decided to make use of their form. But this would be bigger and grander than the others. And so the God Eater raised the land beneath its island upwards toward the heavens. What had once been beautiful beachfront property was now a sheer cliff face. The island had been pushed several hundred feet into the air, creating a natural wall of stone. But, being the bearer of great foresight, the God Eater knew it may one day desire to lounge by the ocean waves, so a small portion of the island remained at sea level.

WanderThoroughly satisfied with the island, the God Eater decided to wander around. The new foliage and lakes and rivers would be fun to check out. Plus, the added height meant that virtually every corner of the island was prime for peeping on the neighbors! But the real adventure would be sampling all of the new product. The God Eater had figured these growy things out pretty good since they first started appearing. And it wasn't long before it tried to eat a few and found that they had energy in them. But not just any energy... they were attracted to the Godheart. And in some strange way, they could tap into the Godheart's energy. Thus, the God Eater reasoned, if the plants could store the Godheart's energy, then all the God Eater would have to do is drain the energy from the plants.

ActionsTakingWith another swipe of his shears yet more land crumbles into loose sand and dust.

The Fossilized ForestFascinated by this 'life' the other gods have begun toying with, Borishin settles in to watch it for a time. In the passing of thousands of beats of the Godheart, he notes the fragility of the vegetation. Wet, it rots and crumbles. Dry, it cracks and splinters. In enough time, even a perfectly tended tree falls.

Life, he muses, is interesting, but disappointingly fleeting. Recalling the barely changing nature of the earth, attempts to pour his stolen essence into the forest as he did the sea, but finds it resistant, the two natures at odds with each other, and must use his needle to bind them properly. The resulting stretch of forest is as living stone, slow to grow but sturdy and long lived.

« Last Edit: March 11, 2014, 08:51:02 am by Neoadept »

Logged

Nefarious? Nearly. Ne’er-do-well? Never! Neither nearly names this narrator. Naive and knowledgeable, notorious and inscrutable, this nascent Nero is known naturally as Neoadept.

ActionsThe Fractal RangeThough The Throok was pleased with the mountain range formed so far, it's shape felt... incomplete. So The Throok reached out to the same point with the Fractal Tool. Mountains reared up from the ground and reached south until they circled in on themselves. They formed a regular pattern with the tallest mountains at the point of origin, decreasing in size until they were imperceptible. From the core of the mountain range, a river broke forth and flowed down to the mud plains in an arching pattern. The mountain range was now even more pleasing to The Throok.

Plants are nice, I'll have some of thoseThe Throok had watched the development of plants with great interest. At first glance their growth appeared irregular and chaotic. But on closer inspection, their growth followed set patterns and principles, similar to those constantly at work in the Fractal tool. And so The Throok sampled the forests to the north and the algae sea to the south, mixed them together, and reached out to the headwaters of the new river. On the north bank rose a forest, and along the south bank grass, moss and light ferns sprouted. They followed the river and arched out along the coast. In the center the woodlands and grasslands mixed together, and what had been the barren mud flats became a lush, overgrown swamp. With so much life, so many complex patterns to observe, The Throok was as pleased as it had ever been.

ActionsConsult the God-EaterWhen the gods began to drag their might across the newborn world, Zel watched in awe from the badlands, where reality was indistinct and the World's edge fluttered in the void. He saw them rip apart its stony surface and hurl it into great spires or the sea itself, leaving shifting sands behind. He saw them create life, flooding the pale rock and seas with greens and blues known to none of the old spirits.

But that which he noticed most of all was arrival of an oblivion-born consciousness, as it split the void and came to touch the World. The life this One cast about its garden was more beautiful and more complex than anything else in this young place. He rested his perception upon the isle and was riveted by what he saw: the consciousness was not as he, but made of the materials of the world. He watched through the lens of reality as this soul-bearing god (it must be a god?) partook of material fruits and looked upon its creation with eyes.

In the gardens of the Godheart Emperor, Zel appeared, his visage that of a wisp of distorted space and light, rolling like ball lightning from the edge of reality. No blade of grass was disturbed by his arrival, for it was silent to all but those who could comprehend things from beyond the World. And to this four-armed consciousness Zel reached out.

"Here where you stand, you have created life most complex, basking in the glow of the Godheart which gave me being. But when you fell from the Void you were soul, and now you are both soul and World. Tell me, can one take of the World and forge souls anew, as I was born of the shattered remains of old gods?"

ActionsOkay, one more! Last time, I swear.Another burst of energy radiated outward from the God Eater and settled onto the island making its climate even more lush. Almost super-alive, the plants on the island began to radiate their own form of the Godheart's energy. The power of preservation started to leech into the island's soil and the process of aging ground to a halt. At least as long as the island retained its power, living things like plants and creatures would pause their march toward old age and death, but they had to remain on the island to enjoy such benefits.

Show and TellYet despite this new found wealth, something strange was happening. There was another presence nearby and the God Eater turned to face it. It was a shimmering... something, another god for certain. The God Eater listened to its question and paused for a moment. Would it be wise to divulge such secrets? Or was the God Eater just trying to figure out how to avoid saying it had no idea how it did what it did? It responded to Zel.

A traveler from the void! I have not been there in some time. You've asked me how I became a part of the world, and in truth I can only say so much. I have no way of knowing exactly how it was done, it was simply something I willed into being. Our kind seem to posses this ability, too. I think... I've seen others and some have joined the world while others remain as you are. Though now you have gotten me to think, making oneself can't be too hard. But making another being entirely... one that is able to reason like us, rather than just function. The Tools we carry are not so different, so you may be able to do as I do. Though I cannot say that what I am about to do will even work...

The Staff of Soul Dominion appeared in the God Eater's hands and a pale light radiated from it. Beneath its surface the strange words and letters began to swirl about, crisscrossing and forming strands and knots. The light enveloped the God Eater and its body rose off of the ground slightly. As Zel watched, the God Eater's essence was torn from the four-armed body, which immediately fell dead to the ground. The God Eater had rejoined the void and its presence swirled around that of Zel the Soulsmith, penetrating its being and seeing what there was to see.

Oh my! Oh my!! You have some interesting secrets, don't you? Two of us with power over souls... our works could be great. But first, let's see if this can even be done.

The Staff of Soul Dominion began to glow once more as it tapped into the immense energies stored within the island's foliage. Their power swirled through the air and settled over the four-armed corpse on the ground. Its eyes snapped open and it frantically drew breath before beginning to cough uncontrollably. The body, now inhabited by something, rolled about for hours as its many aspects tried to orient themselves in the physical world.

This is good. It is part of the world and appears to have life, though it is a life of its own, not one of the gods. What could this mean for us, Zel? We must look into this further...

As the God Eater spoke its voice became faint to Zel, as if it was being pulled away. Sure enough, the trees around Zel began to groan and the plants shimmered as something unseen tapped their immense energies. Their pale energy was pulled into the Staff of Soul Dominion and the God Eater began to reform, starting with a single, giant hand that gripped the Staff tightly. The new form stood roughly fifteen feet tall. Much like Sam. Worldly strength poured into the empty vessel that was taking shape. Lastly, the God Eater's presence slipped into its new body. Three bright yellow eyes set into a dog-like head slowly opened and the God Eater looked around.

Yes it seems as if one of our kind must simply will itself into the world. Try it, Zel! Look at me, I made myself another form. If you fail, you can presumably try again later. In the meanwhile, I will tend to this new creation of mine. Look, it already walks!! Who knows what else this thing can do.

ActionsSpread the GreenThe Throok greatly enjoyed watching the plant life grow, and desired more of it. And so the forests spread north to the mountains and coast, and the grasslands spread south. These lands were pleasing, but The Throok began to feel that there was untapped potential.

Spark of LifeThe Throok had observed from afar as the God Eater had taken physical form, abandoned it, then drew life into the form. The idea of a physical form seemed too constricting. But the creation of this animate, physical life was captivating, so The Throok sought to create similar results by another method.

The Throok sampled life from all the regions across the great belt of green now growing on the side of the World. At a small pool of water high on the tallest peak at the core of the Fractal Range, The Throok drew in close, for this would be precise work. Elements from the many biomes were added to the pool and The Throok agitated the waters with the Fractal Tool. These forms of life were combined, fractured, broken down and remixed over and over while The Throok poured into the pool the goal to seek Energy, to Grow, and to Multiply. With a flash of light and a whiff of pungent fumes, a new form of life was created. Little, squishy, light purple blobs scurried about in the pool. There on the tallest peak, where the Throok had now poured out power three times, this new Animate Life grew and diversified rapidly. Some kept to the water and swam downstream, some crawled on to land, some burrowed into the earth and stone. They changed color and size, grew limbs, sensory organs, and defenses.

The Throok loved this new creation. With so many sources of energy in the World, there were countless paths of progression for this Life. The other gods exerting their influence in the World might sample this new Life, as the plants had been sampled to create it. The Throok hoped they would. With so many outside forces and variables to consider, the possibilities were staggering. The Throok copied the sample for this Proto-Life and drew back from the Mountain of Life and the World. The Throok called out with glee to the host of spirits at its command. Together they would watch and observe the spread of this Life.

ActionsCloverfieldsThe Ternion cast itself to the other side of the continent, and beheld the workings the other gods. Their work was imperfect and the Ternion was uneasy, but to work against them directly would be folly. Spying the fractal workings of the Throok, the Ternion was pleased, for within the fractal patterns of the plants which grew and the teeming mobile life there were harmonious triplicate patterns. The Ternion took up his Tool and used it to plough the stone near the fractal mountains, then gathered up many seeds and planted them there, where they sprouted into great waving fields of three-leaved plants.

Forests of StoneThe Ternion was also impressed by the petrified forest of the Covetous. Such slow-growing trees were easily controlled, and the Ternion planted many near the deserts and rivers it had previously made. This region would not be troubled by the chaos of the quicker forms of life.

ActionsFields of FlowersUea, wiser than her sister, takes time to examine the works of the other Gods before interfering with the World. Examining the lush flowers of the God Eater's island, she decides that such beauty and colour should not be restricted to so small a space. With a sweep of her hand, the entire northeastern landmass takes bloom with untamed wildflowers growing shoulder high. In the soft wind, the entire subcontinent seems to sway back and forth. The new life soon takes to the fertile and sweet-smelling meadows.

Deepen LakeThe flowers don't stop at the land, however. The floors of the many lakes soon throb with a diversity of seaweed and coral. Curious about this new form of life, Uea encourages their proliferation by pushing the floor of the deepest lake down, until it is three times its former depth. What new life will flourish in these unseen depths, where no light can reach?

ActionsAwaken the ZoelCaptivated by the silver-tongued God Eater's words and given purpose by his knowledge, Zel dove into the lake below the eden above the World, and upon the shore of the stony forest he rose out of the water. Into corporeal existence he cracked his Orb of Souls with a crinkling pop - a glass bauble filled with a cyclone of brilliant golden light. He cast it into the water with the force of a thunderbolt, sending a shockwave through the air as it collided with the water in a brilliant explosion of white. Moments passed, and Zel watched on, as its own one hand at first, then two, pulled the form of the first mortal out of the water. It had the shape of the man, with skin the color of granite and eyes of glass. It opened its eyes and looked upon its hands, then up upon its creator. Zel gave him language that he might understand his words.

"I am Zel, and you are the first of my children. I have brought you here from the nothing, and with you I make this covenant: so long as your people keep my name in their prayers, their souls shall never return to oblivion." He paused. "What is your name?"

The first mortal soul rose from the sand and looked into the soul that had created his. He looked across the shore, where the eyes of his people opened one by one with the waves lapping at their sides.

"I am Zol," said the First, in a voice like a crystallophone, "and we are the Zoel."

ActionsSculpt TitansHeedless of the Soulsmith's creation on the other side of the world, the Ternion cast itself about the lifeless area of rock, mud and sand to the East. These three elements he gathered together into three great bodies, six limbed and three-eyed, for he had observed the God Eater assume such a form and it was pleasing. Three times the height of a mountain, these Titans stood for an age, unmoving and unchanging. Such purity of form pleased the Ternion, but when it looked in pride upon its three creations it felt a strange feeling of yearning, as though they were yet unfinished...

ActionsMeddle with the ZoelAlways fascinated by the works of other gods, Borishin descends amongst the Zoel. Unseen, for he is without form, and unfelt, for he is without substance, he watches them.

This 'language' of theirs is enthralling! Only shapes on the wind, yet there is meaning, purpose! Dancing, growing, spinning, dying, often slowing, never stopping, coming apart only to be rejoined. These noises are as life itself!

So delighted, he decided that he must have the secret of it. A slice of his shears tore language away from one of their number, and a stitch of his needle rebound it to himself. Struck deaf and dumb, the poor creature only had a moment to reflect on its misfortune before another slice cut its life from its form and it crumpled to the ground.

Borishin was never one to leave something of interest unclaimed, and the body had seemed almost as fascinating as the language. Only now it it seemed no more useful than a heap of rotting plant-flesh. Simmering, he cut more carefully at a second Zoel, but that too fell into a useless heap.

By the time he grew frustrated and left, there were a dozen dead without a mark upon them.

Steal LifeforceEnraged at being denied his desire, he swept over the sea of slime, tearing mountains of animating power away from it at a single swing. The rotting sea left in his wake would prove inhospitable to all but the most persistent scavengers.

Imbue TitansIf I cannot take them, he simmered, I shall have my own.

Finding Ternion's Titans, he found their form pleasing and poured the lifeforce of the entire sea into their stone forms, affixing it with his needle.

Though they moved and lived, there was none of purpose that had filled the Zoel. Borishin was displeased, but resigned to the predicament.

Logged

Nefarious? Nearly. Ne’er-do-well? Never! Neither nearly names this narrator. Naive and knowledgeable, notorious and inscrutable, this nascent Nero is known naturally as Neoadept.

And I guess we have to give you something to do... - [Command Avatar, 2 cost]

Interactive Sightseeing Tour!![Shape Climate x4, 8 cost]

Power Remaining: 2Running Bonus: +3

ActionsNobody leaves... THE ISLANDBut then the God Eater decided to leave the island and look around elsewhere. So it did.

We have to make you less dumb.However, not before the God Eater spent some quality time with its old body to make sure it was okay. It seemed to function as well as the God Eater had inside the four-armed, three-eyed skin. The avatar could pick things up, throw them around, and even do more complex things like climbing trees and swimming. But it wasn't like the gods, at least not as far as the God Eater could tell. The avatar seemed... dumb. It didn't communicate or even seem interested in such things. In fact it didn't do much of anything at all unless it was told to. This was strange. And so, standing before its avatar, the God Eater raised the Staff of Soul Dominion high into the air and commanded the dumb creature to be smart.

A pale light glimmered within the Staff and the avatar was struck by some unseen force. Its eyes went wide and the God Eater cocked its head.

You alright?? Can you hear me? Hello!?

The avatar, being as much a part of its master as anything else on the island, wheeled around and faced its creator with a look of shock.

"I... you..." the avatar sputtered out its first words, trying to gain a grasp of the things that had begun buzzing in its head "You didn't make me any food to eat. I don't eat souls."

The God Eater looked on.

And I guess we have to give you something to do....That was something that the God Eater hadn't even considered.

You don't eat souls?? What do you eat then?

"I don't know. That's your job to figure out, isn't it?"

The God Eater frowned its first frown since existence began. If this thing didn't eat souls, what could it eat? The God Eater raised its Staff once more and tried to think of something.

"Stop please!!" the avatar cried out, "Maybe you should let me figure this out, rather than just making me do something. This may be my purpose. Or, I dunno... I feel like you should stick to more... uh... godly things. Leave the mortal stuff to me, I'll report back to you. Sound good?"

Y-yeah. That sounds like a good idea. Yes! Of course!! My child, go forth and explore! Find what you may and do as you please, but do not do so at the expense of the others that are here. Especially the one known as Zel. That one was kind to us here on the island.

"Of course, my lord." the avatar spoke softly and quickly. "By the way, you may call me whatever you desire, but I feel like a Desi. I think I will have others call me by that name."

Giving a bow, Desi the avatar turned and headed off into the dense jungle to search for whatever was there to be found. Going in the opposite direction, the God Eater began to wade out into the sea to do much the same.

Interactive Sightseeing Tour!!As the God Eater reached the southern boundaries of the tiny inland sea, it noticed a wide expanse of nothingness. Far off in the distance the God Eater could see other creations, but they were islands in a fog with no clear path to reach them. This had to be fixed. The God Eater tried to remember the places it had been. It had spent some time down in a stone forest and up on top of some nice mountains. There was even one place filled with clover! The God Eater remembered once when its island was also covered in similar clover... those were good days. And sand, that was something else! The God Eater had seen some of it on the shores of its island but this was a whole sea of sand!

But this sand, while amazing, seemed to lack the spark that other things had. It seemed at odds with the God Eater's lush jungle, possibly even a threat to it. Water, on the other hand would put a quick end to whatever ideas the sand had. And plants loved water! Maybe a barrier of between the sea and the desert was in order. The plants would feed off of the water from the sea and stay strong against an assault from the desert. Thinking it over, the God Eater pictured the plants it had seen and tried to choose a strong one that would make a suitable barrier.

"Ah... excuse me? Master?" Desi's voice chirped up from behind God Eater. The god was scared, or maybe just startled, at the sudden appearance of its minion. "Try this one. It's one of the strongest plants on the island. It has a hard body and many strong leaves, and it can grow both tall and deep. Perfect for holding fast against sand and desert.

You have done well, young one! And how sneaky you are, I did not even notice you there...

Having been a part of the world longer than just about any of the gods, the God Eater was already beginning to wonder about just how far non-gods could advance. Desi was very perceptive and was now even offering advice to her creator. Was this a good thing? Perhaps intelligence needed to be kept in check. And if a creation did become too smart, was it right to take that gift away? Surely these non-god beings were not able to stand up against a god, but the thought had already begun to creep into the back of the God Eater's mind. Desi, meanwhile, had already wandered off and was a small dot in the distance by the time God Eater spotted her.

Pushing any strange thoughts aside, God Eater went about building a barrier to protect the inland sea from threats.

ActionsAnimate TitansWhile Uea finished her work on the grasslands to the north, Eua drew back to look over the world. Already a wide assortment of biomes were appearing, an exciting new world full of potential for mischief. (And opportunities to piss off her sister.) As she celebrated, however, a sense of dread grew at the back of her mind, a feeling that not all was right. She looked across the land for the source of this discomfort and saw that her algae sea in the southwest was browning. Great waves of heavy brown sludge sloughed onto the beaches, and the air was full with the scent of death.

This wasn't natural - she could feel how the life had been cruelly cut away. Not just the life, her life. She felt this part of herself still stirring, far to the east where the air was hot and the ground dead.

First, she came to the mesas she had created in her youth. Her life was there, lost and wearing sand. For many years she watched it drag its titanic feet across the dunes, twisting its head toward the sun and flinching away again. And again. For eons she watched as it sank beneath the sand and pulled itself up again as if drowning.

Next, she went north, where she was also wearing rock. This one slept, entire rocky forests thriving on its back. Occasionally it would turn over or shake them off only for them to return. Like stone it was inert, unchanging. When it yawned, the world shook.

Finally, she came to the muddy swamps in the east. Here she was again, wearing mud and water. This was the most active of the three. It flowed beneath the rivers, carrying stones downstream and depositing them upon vast pebbly beaches on the shore. When it was done, it would pull itself from the water and lumber back to the mountains, only to repeat the process. It never balked from its duty, and even as the tides carried the beaches away it would simply start again.

Not finished. She thought. Without purpose.

But they were a part of her, and so they would always be without their own will. Eventually children must leave their parents and forge their own paths. She cut the tie, and the titans eyes lit up with true understanding.

Without purpose, sand is nothing, subject to the whim of the breeze. But sand can bury cities, and level forests.

Without purpose, rock is nothing, heavy and stubborn. But rock is strong and steadfast, and composes the world.

Without purpose, mud is nothing, the water washes it away. But mud brings life, and moulds the land.

Preserve the Grasslands

As the wind and water push the desert further north, Uea begins to grow worried for her new grassland. She pushes seeds deep into the soil between them, and they take root, forming a thick and humid jungle full of bright flowers and poisonous fauna.

For many beats of the Godheart, Zel watched over the World's natal life. It blossomed and grew - rivers carving the desert and mountains moving in the east.

His essence returned to the Zoel, where in the sides of the great mountains by the lake they had begun to carve out their homes, and was struck dumb in rage at what he beheld. Two pairs thrice numbered of his people lied motionless in the sands. With the rising tide, the lake that was their mother lapped helplessly at their dead bodies. Their skin, cracked and dry, began to erode, and their glass eyes were fractured and all but turned to stone. They held no souls.

All of the bodies lied as if struck dead in mid-stride, save one. His lifeless hands clutched the sides of his head, and he lied in the sand on his back, his neck craned to peer into the Godheart. Zel was naught but guilt and anger. As the brothers and sisters of the fallen began to gather at the cliff side and look upon death - a sleep without end they had not known - Zel rose out of the sand as a cyclone of fire and glass.

"Children," roared the flame, "I have not forgotten my covenant to you."

He looked into the eyes of Zol, the firstmade, and Zol could feel his gaze.

"Here in this mountainside you will build a temple city called Dodeazodel. The souls of your brothers are now lost in the World, ripped from form but isolated from my realm. In this temple they shall one day speak again, hear again, see again, and love again. "

The whirlwind of fire died away, leaving a man that looked as Zol did but was made all of glass that did not bend or break.

"And children," he sang in their language, "in this temple you will find Eternity."

The glass figure turned to dust and fell apart in the breeze.

So there on the shore and in the shadow of the mountain, a holy city was carved out of the rock. In its center, a great chamber with twelve sides was carved out, with a pedestal altar in the center. One night, when no Zoel was there to see, a glass bauble appeared on the pedestal. Unbreakable and unmovable, it glowed faintly. Though they knew it not, any of Zel's fallen peoples' souls would find refuge in this orb henceforth, but the Twelve had been cast to the wind.

So Zel rose above the World, and began to seek them out.

I didn't put city text intentionally. The city is marked with a 3 pixel red cross until we can figure out how to standardize them on the map.

ActionsRebellionThe Throok and the Host of accompanying spirits observed the actions of the other gods from just outside the World. They did not use the spreading animate life in their creations directly, but perhaps it was an influence or inspiration in their forms of life. Either way it was pleasing to The Throok, and the life forms it had founded continued to spread and multiply.

The views of the host of spirits however, were varied. The battle with The Throok for control of the Fractal Tool that caused them to be formed from the shattering of a god was in the distant past and all but forgotten. Some of their number had been ambivalent toward the World, and had continued to explore the Void until they had been summoned. Others had watched The Throok and other gods act on the World with great interest, and desired to act upon the World themselves.

Among this latter group were Four of the greatest of the Host, Four of the largest fragments of the former god. Their interest in the world turned to panic. The god to whom they had pledged allegiance seemed content to watch the World in entranced silence. Would The Throok act on the world again? Would they have an opportunity to assist in these actions? They called out to The Throok for an answer, but there was no reply.

It was then that a collection of spirits who had wandered farthest into the Void returned, carrying amongst them a minor Tool. The Four came upon them and asked them of the tool's nature. "We don't yet know," said the leader of the group. "We haven't had anything to test it against. We think it can pry things apart, loosen things that are stuck." The Four were struck with the same idea at once. They seized this new tool and threw themselves at the Fractal Tool and the distracted Throok.

The Throok snapped out of its trance the instant the Fractal Tool was attacked, and turned to see who was responsible. The Four spirits had been awkwardly fused together by the Fractal Tool's power, causing them to lose their grip on the Prying Tool. It and a small portion of the Fractal Tool fell to the World. Their location was lost, for The Throok's full attention and burning rage was turned upon the mangled collection that had once been four of the leaders of the Host of spirits.

The Throok seized the traitorous clump of spirits and threw it toward the Godheart, where they would have already been if not for The Throok's previous mercy. But the spirits ricocheted off the surface of the Godheart and hurtled out into the void. The Throok turned to the stunned Host of spirits and spoke.

"You greedy, foolish, covetous, traitorous spirits! Once you attacked me and I showed mercy, saving you from the churning inferno of the Godheart. And this is how you repay me? Who among you was in league with those vile usurpers? SPEAK NOW!"

The spirits all cowered in fearful silence. It was apparent to The Throok, even though clouded by anger, that the attackers acted on their own.

"The traitorous spirits have been expelled, cast into the Void where they will be forgotten. Once again I will show mercy on the rest of you, but know that my compassion is not endless. If any of you strike against me, my Tool, or the beautiful creations in the World which I love, Judgement will be swift and terrible. I will grind the lot of you to the smallest point possible and cast you back into the Void. You will be so insignificant and so distant from your brethren, the only thought you will be able to muster is that you are terribly, utterly, inescapably alone. AM I UNDERSTOOD?"

The Throok was perfectly understood.

Diversify

The Throok turned again to the World, hoping that it would ease the rage still coursing through it from the Rebellion of the Four. Much of the world was still blank stone. This needed to change. For animate life to reach greater potential, it needed more habitats in which to adapt.

The death and rot of the slime sea was a great disappointment, but also an opportunity. The Throok took some of this rotten algae, mixed it with the Proto Life, and spread it as seeds across the peninsula south of the grassland and the coast of the land further south. Slimes and molds spread. Mushrooms the size of trees sprouted. Instead of grass, red vines, neither plant or animal, carpeted the land. Soon strange creatures, similarly somewhere between plant and animal, roamed the mushroom forests.

Even out on the barren white stone plains there were signs of life. Small groups of jagged stone creatures roamed aimlessly. How would they fare in a harsher, yet more energetic climate? The Throok struck the stone near the southern shore of the mainland and bored deep with the Fractal Tool, until it struck magma around the Starlines. This flowed up to the surface, forming a great cone volcano that flowed down to the coastline. Plain white stone was replaced by ash and volcanic rock, rivers and lakes of lava, and chasms peering down into the molten deep.

Across the sea to The south, The Throok drew the heat out of the land, creating an icy tundra. Hardy trees clung to the coast, but the interior was mostly empty and frozen, made even more inhospitable by being so close to the Thin Places.

The thought of what life would come to be in these challenging habitats eased the rage in The Throok's mind. There was much to look forward to.

ActionsBirth of Salvarian the Created GodIt was fate that gave birth to Salvarian, the created god. The Host of Four, banished by the Throok, floated through eons of nothingness before chance brought them to a tool that had escaped the attention of the other gods. The tool itself was that of a rod, with a much smaller rod laid across the top, giving it the figure of a T. Had the spirits course varied even slightly in their timeless travels, there would have been no discovering the tool. Luckily for Salvarian, that was not the case. Upon touching, a great flash of light was cast into the surrounding void as the Four and the tool were melded into one. And so, Salvarian was born.

At its birth, Salvarian was unaware of its existence. The Host of Four had completely been absorbed and remade by the power of the tool. And so the created god wandered aimlessly through the void, not knowing where it was going. In time, Salvarian came across the godheart and looked upon existence with great interest.

Fine DesertSalvarian saw the dust of the east and was dismayed. The god enjoyed its purity and simplicity, but something was not right. Salvarian’s pondering led to the conclusion that this dust must be remade. The god descended to the world and gathered up dust, remaking it with the god’s tool.

Once it was done, the god cast the finer sand onto the bare stone with great force. Massive storms swirled into existence from the sudden barrage, eating into the ground as the winds carried the fine particles on their currents. Channels were carved into the stone as the weaker rock melted away under the erosive forces.

When the storms finally died down and the golden sand settled, a section of the original stone stood proud and tall amidst the new desert. This greatly pleased Salvarian. The god descended to the raised point and looked out upon what it had created.

ActionsTesting.Spying the finer, friendlier sand created by Salvarian and the molten earth exposed by the Throok, God Eater had an idea. It called Desi to an undeveloped region just outside of the jungle barrier. Both the God Eater and Desi used their power to spread sand far and wide, bridging the gap between the desert and the jungle.

Continue Testing.With the area covered in sand, the God Eater moved onto the next step. Its idea was to test out the desert climate so that more could be learned. If it was a threat, God Eater would figure out how to stop it. And if it was not a threat, then things could continue as they were. The God Eater diverted a portion of the jungle river so that it would flow through the dry lands. All along the riverbanks life began to spring up in defiance of the climate. Bit its impact was limited to the region near the river and not far beyond. This was evidenced by the region south of the new river, which was isolated from the main desert, yet yielded no territory to the lush, green jungles and fields to the north and northwest. Peering far to the south, the God Eater observed the lava flows created by the Throok.

More Testing!!A low rumbling shook the entire desert and a great plume of dust rose up from where the God Eater was working. The ground was slowly sinking toward a single point, with the God Eater at its center. As it crept lower and lower jets of steam and gas began to erupt from fissures. Sand was blown far and wide, with deposits even reaching distant mountaintops. After many tense moments the God Eater looked up from the bottom of its depression. The earth beneath its feet glowed red hot, though it still remained solid. Desi approached the rim of the gulf and looked down into it. The God Eater was deep in thought. Mere yards beneath where the God Eater stood the world's molten layers were waiting.

Oops...The God Eater wondered what more heat would do to the desert, and the Throok had shown God Eater where a large amount of heat could be found. It dug deep, down to the bottommost layers of solid earth. The rock and soil glowed in the depths and materials that the God Eater had thought solid and unbreakable had become as fragile as leaves. Truly this plane was a miracle! Smiling to itself, the God Eater raised its hands toward the Godheart. The time was now! A terrible explosion rocked the desert as the God Eater released the planet's heat into the massive depression of sand. A column of red hot lava stretched into the heavens and could be seen all across the small world. It remained for several minutes before shrinking back down into the planet.

The God Eater hadn't stopped the flow though. It had stopped on its own. In fact, the God Eater hadn't had much time to enjoy the culmination of its experiment. As it was, the God Eater found itself back in the void, dumbstruck. It raced back to the world and found Desi.

My child! What is the meaning of this!?

Desi looked around frantically as her master called out. "Alas, I cannot see you, my lord. Where have you gone? I thought..."

The God Eater's avatar had been blown far across the desert by the blast but using its strength managed to get back fairly quickly. It stopped at a strange line in the sand about a mile out from the massive depression the God Eater had made. The sand had stopped at a point, beyond which was a pristine, flat field of dark glass. Cautiously, Desi stepped out onto the sheet of glass. It was still warm and somewhat slippery. Bits of sand danced across its surface here and formed twirling strands in the air just above the glass.

"This is..." Desi began to speak but her master finished the thought.

Astounding!!

Both found themselves standing at the edge of the deep depression. The flat glass surface suddenly and sharply began to descend. It went down, down, down all the way to the edge of the molten layer and a deep, dull light radiated from the lowest reaches.

"What's that??" Desi pointed with all four hands. "There's something down there at the center..."

The God Eater was there almost instantly to see what was lurking below. Desi tumbled after, having trouble finding a good foothold on the incredibly slippery bowl of glass that its master had managed to form. At the very bottom of the hole, just above the glowing core was the God Eater's body. It was solid obsidian and stood stark against the bright, hot light. Both arms were still outstretched to the Godheart. Its three eyes seemed to channel the light coming up through the starline and they shone bright and red like a beacon. Any spark of life that the form had was long gone and its dog-like face was frozen, the God Eater's beastly grin still visible.

"W-what is this?" Desi asked, alarmed. "Your form is..."

Not to worry. I must have just broken it!

God Eater shrugged in a way that only it could perceive and began examining its work. Desi, meanwhile, stood transfixed and stared at the statue. Her thoughts were disturbing to say the least. She stared at her master's lifeless form. And while she recognized that the God Eater would simply be able to make another form, she could not help but wonder about herself. She was not a god. What would happen if her body was destroyed? The only reason she had a body to begin with was because her master had given her its old form. There was no recollection of anything before the master had made a body for her. What about after the body was gone? Did life simply end for beings such as herself?

ActionsExplorationSalvarian enjoyed its elevated position, looking out over the golden desert it had created. Several decades passed with the created god unmoving, keeping watch over its small corner of the world. It would have continued to do so for centuries more had there not been a disturbance in the world.

A massive plume of dust rocketed into the sky spreading out into a dome that carried the sand to where Salvarian was. Inside of the plume was a dull red light that beat like the Godheart itself. This light grew in strength until it pierced the dome itself and reached into the sky, an arm of red trying to reach the Godheart.

Curious as to what was going on, Salvarian stirred from its vantage point and cut a wide circle around the focal point of the disturbance. Doing so brought it closer to the creations of the other gods. Where Salvarian had only created fine sand, the other gods had created grasslands, and forests, and jungle. Water had been used to cut channels into the rich earth as it flowed into the oceans.

The Created God even saw the beginnings of mortal life. It was upon seeing these creations that Salvarian decided to take a physical form. Influenced by Zel’s creations, Salvarian’s physical form was cast entirely of stone. Two legs and two arms supported a head fashioned in the form of the god’s tool. The hulking mass stood nearly 30 feet tall, and the earth cracked with each step the god took.

Raise the LandThe god gathered up bits of grass and fossilized forest and flew to the edge of the jungle. Marshaling its power, the god raised up the ground beneath its feet until it was towering above the surrounding landscape. Wanting to move forward, Salvarian continued to raise the land in front of it, each step creating a new tower of rock and stone.

The god followed the edge of the dust desert, keeping away from the disturbance, but constantly watching it. When it reached the end of the desert, Salvarian began its work. It spread the grass as it walked, continuing to raise the land into mountain peaks. When it reached the coast, the god planted the roots of the fossilized forest at the foothills of the mountains.

When this was finished, Salvarian cut channels for the water to flow through the newly sculpted land, where it linked with a river that had already been carved.

ActionsThe White LandsThe Ternion wandered among the other gods, but did not interact with them. Their un-triplicate disorder caused the Ternion something akin to distress. One whom he was able to tolerate more than others was the one who was called the Throok, as his fractal nature aligned with the Ternion's own. While idly watching the Throok's busy labours creating new lands the Ternion noticed the Throok paying special attention to the pathetic, jagged creatures who had arisen of their own accord in the great white wastes between true lands. The Ternion was seized by a strange feeling of pity for these simple life forms, and immediately departed to the eastern coast.

These jagged creatures are of only one kind, when it is plain that life has three forms. Thought the Ternion. The low growth which slowly creeps across the land, the high growth which casts long shadows, and the moving life. Taking the Triune Motes the Ternion split one of the piteous creatures into three parts, for it contained the seeds of each of these kinds of life. Soon the white rock was lush in its own way with peculiar jagged crystalline plants, which caught the Godlight and scattered it into three times three colours. Among the white plants gamboled strange jagged white creatures, less piteous now they had been unburdened of the other crystal life which had been locked within them.

MegatreesThe Ternion knew that the high life which cast long shadows needed space, so it scattered its seeds widely, and after a time they sprouted and grew into great white jagged trees as tall as mountains. Though they took aeons to mature, their fruit would undoubtedly be very magical and valuable.

ActionsThe Blazing LandsBorishin saw that other gods were digging deep into the bedrock of the world, and marveled at how the heat of the Godheart made stone as free and flowing as water. Such heat was too marvelous a tool to go unused, he decided, and so he scattered the seeds of his mighty stone forests in the lands to the south.

There they grew slowly, as was their nature, but he tore at the heat of the world and pour it into them. Suddenly what was slow but long lived became quick and brief, even more so than their greener counterparts. Growing in the fertile ash of their forebears, the vegetation would grow to adulthood and bloom in a matter of days before being consumed by conflagration. Seeds borne aloft on heated winds would land in the ash left behind and begin the cycle over.

Sea of AshNot all ash settled back upon the land from which it had sprung. Carried south, much of it settled into the ocean waters, darkening and poisoning the seas.

Verdant PlainsYet more settled in the lands to the north, where plants without the fiery disposition that had spawned it thrived upon the fertile dust.

« Last Edit: March 19, 2014, 05:51:54 pm by Neoadept »

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Nefarious? Nearly. Ne’er-do-well? Never! Neither nearly names this narrator. Naive and knowledgeable, notorious and inscrutable, this nascent Nero is known naturally as Neoadept.

ActionsClaim the LandThe Throok was pleased with the lands it had formed so far, and sought to spread their reach. The region of slimes and fungus spread across most of the southern landmass, with a pocket of lush swamp popping up on the western coast. As the red vines and giant mushrooms spread to the edges of the Thin Places, there were pockets of white stone that even this hardy life could not colonize. Barren plains stretching into the infinite would be a bold warning to any life to go no further. In the places where life did reach to the very edges of the World, laws of nature broke down and truly bizarre things could be found.

Cold tundra claimed the furthest tip of this landmass, and all of the one further east. Vast sheets of ice stretched out into the sea. In the depths of the frozen regions, life forms composed of the permafrost arose.

Around the southern regions of the Fractal mountain range the grasslands spread, and at the meeting of the dead algae sea and fertile ash clouds, another swamp formed.

Claim the Sea, tooThe richness of this ash gave The Throok an idea. Gathering up some of the ash and the excess sand that had been blown across the world by several eager gods, The Throok sank it along the western coast of the main landmass and stirred in extra life. A shallow region of the sea formed. It was filled with life: rich coral beds, tidy kelp forests, and schools of all manner of swimming beasts. Wide sandy beaches and dunes washed up in many places along the coast. The Throok was very pleased.

ActionsThe Boiling SeaLod looked on with wonder as the other gods struck deep into the World, unearthing the heat of the Godheart. Lod resolved to attempt an experiement of his own. Returning to the barren North he had worked before, he approached the small inland sea on the edge of the forest. With a mighty swing of his Tool, the waters parted before him and he struck the seabed, boreing deep into the World.

As the water ran back to fill the sea again, heat from the now exposed Godheart rose up from the depths. The water quickly began to warm, and boil. The entire sea was soon churning as vast quantities of steam rose off of it.

The MistwoodsAs the rolling clouds of steam spread off the boiling sea, so too did the forests spread across the blank white of the World. As the steam cooled, it hung in the air as a thick, cold mist, dampening everything it touched. The forest took to this new climate voraciously, growing thick and tangled, every surface slick with dew.

The Snowy NorthTo the far North, the forest still spread, though with much less gusto. The thick clouds of mist began to falter at this distance, giving way to great snow drifts and blizzards, covering the land in a thick blanket of snow.

ActionsTo the mountains!The God Eater looked west and was determined to push the jungles as far as they could go. And so it spread until the trees reached the Fractal Range that had been constructed by the Throok. The long jungle river wormed its way through the new growth, forming pools and lakes. One particularly large lake appeared just outside of the dense jungle in a large grass clearing next to the Range. Desi took a particular liking to this place. Elsewhere, a truly deep area of jungle developed. Creatures unaware of the forest paths would surely be lost.

To the sea!Further away, the God Eater spied a small area of greenery raised by Salvarian, a newcomer. This god was quickly making itself known and its works were very impressive. The God Eater decided to give a jolt of life to Salvarian's grasslands and spread them to the east and south. To ensure the continued health of the grass in its battle against the desert, the God Eater continued the long river so that it met the southern sea. By doing this, the God Eater created a water route that could be used to get all the way up to the inland sea and (eventually) the northern oceans. The newly completed river also represented a way for sailors to avoid the deadly seas to the southwest en route to the friendlier seas to the southeast.

Who are they??With its work complete, the God Eater returned to its island for the first time in a long while. Much had changed. The trees had grown quite tall, though not ridiculously so. A thick canopy now covered most of the island and huge shafts of light shone down from above. All around the sounds of smaller forms of life had emerged. Flying things, walking things, climbing things, and all kinds of things now stalked the small garden paradise.

There was something else, too. The God Eater had just noticed it. They were souls! All kinds!! They seemed to be flocking to the island, attracted to the extreme liveliness of it all. Maybe the souls liked a place where life seemed to go on endlessly? Perhaps it was irresistible to them!

The God Eater was still in an intangible form so it could not easily traverse the small ocean of souls that had congregated. Recognizing this, God Eater called upon the Staff of Soul Dominion. The Staff appeared in the air and the souls quickly parted. This was more like it! A following was exactly what the God Eater had needed. Still, as it moved the God Eater began to detect something even more strange. They were souls but very different from the others. Their origin was muddled and less clear and the energy that they possessed seemed to have a certain conscience about it.

While unseen in the physical plane, a great storm rose up around the God Eater and the sea of souls began to flow like water. It circled around the God Eater's presence and gained speed as more souls were pulled inside. The chaos continued for a long while until a loud screaming filled the Void around the God Eater's island. Then everything stopped. The soul storm had ground to a halt and coalesced into a small ball. Four tiny beacons of light were all the remained in the Void space of the island. The God Eater, falling out of the Void and into the world, took the physical form of a small bird and landed on a branch high up in the canopy. Within one of the bird's talons was the ball of souls, gathered up and silenced so that the God Eater could address the four outsiders.

Where are you from, travelers of the Void? Your presence is unlike those born of the world. You have the presence of those born of a god. And yet you are not here with the rest of us? I have freed you from the Void's chaos so that you may answer my questions. You are safe, at least for now... come back to the world and tell me your story. SPEAK!!

The four bobs of light were struck by a profound power and gained the power to speak from the Void. Little did the God Eater know of the story they would weave and of the treachery of the other gods.

ActionsBring Forth the DustSalvarian was pleased by the expansion of the grasslands, as it watched the God Eater at work from its mountain perch. Before Salvarian could communicate with this other god, he was gone. These changes to the landscape added to Salvarian’s view, but there was still a large expanse of nothingness beyond the grasslands. The plain stone stretched off into the distance.

Salvarian decided to change that. It pulled the dust from the north, covering the plains. In the god’s mind the dust was better than nothing.

Carve the CanyonsHowever, upon returning to its vantage point, the created god was still unimpressed with what it had created. The view was still flat and plain, only now it was a different color. Before Salvarian could rest once more, something had to be changed.

Pulling water from the river at the foot of the mountains, Salvarian channeled the flow to carve into the dust and the stone beneath it. The water curved and swerved through the dust before finding the ocean in the south. Yet every time the created god ceased channeling the water, the dust would soak up the water and turn into mud. The only result of Salvarian’s work was the carved canyons that cut deep into the surface. At some points the canyons were so deep that entire mountains could be placed inside of them with their peaks failing to protrude above the surface.

Disappointment was Salvarian’s first reaction, since the god enjoyed the movement and flow of the water in the rivers. But as the god looked closer at its creation, it became pleased with the result. The canyons were still beautiful in their own way, even without their running rivers. The remaining moisture continued to collect at the bottom of the canyons thanks to the shade from the cliffs.

Salvarian crept into the canyon system in its physical form, finding the deepest section to rest. Protected by the cliffs, the created god found some peace.

ActionsSpread the GreenThe Throok looked over the World and saw that the original barren white spaces were nearly filled up, but a few patches still remained. Just a bit more vegetation would cover them up. The space near the Fractal Range was consumed by the grasslands. In the shadow of the fiery and volcanic regions, the peninsula to the south sprouted lush wooded areas, with jungle on the northern side and colder mistwoods on the south. Swamp grew up on a lonely patch of land on the easternmost edge of the world. Weird marshes and bogs here reached out into the infinite of the Thin Places.

Pierce the EarthThe Throok took interest in the relative newcomer, the Salvarian, and its works. The god seemed strangely familiar to The Throok. Wherever this familiarity came from, the muddy canyons this god had made were pleasing. It was near these canyons, on the border of desert and jungle, that The Throok began a task it had considered since it had first seen the Structure of the World. For the World looped in on itself, the roof of the sky was really the bottom of the land. So what would happen if a hole were bored all the way through? The Throok found an area with no starlines beneath it and began to bore down with the Fractal Tool. The nature of the Tool did not lend itself to a single straight cylinder, so connecting shafts and great sinkholes formed around the pit at regular intervals. The Throok did strike a few minor starlines, but these were sealed up, their energies forced elsewhere in the branching network of the Godheart. Finally The Throok burst through the dome of the sky, and happily descended again to observe its works.

...But it has ConsequencesAs The Throok descended, it felt that something was wrong with the Fractal Tool. Perhaps it had been more weakened than first thought when a piece had been dislodged by the attack of the Four rebellious spirits. Perhaps using it to create a formation against its fractal nature had been too much of a strain. But the hissing sound and sparks of light it emitted were very troubling to The Throok. Caution would have to be taken in future use.

As The Throok reached the surface, it was apparent that drilling a hole through the World was not without consequences. Shifting the starlines had stirred up geothermal activity in the area. Throughout the jungle and desert this activity had broken through to the surface. Patches of acrid, steaming ponds, boiling geysers, and bubbling mudpots dotted the landscape, especially around the muddy canyons. In some places the canyon walls liquified and caused vast mudslides. One of these was over the place Salvarian had sought rest, and completely by accident, the god was covered up by a mountain of mud.

ActionsRectify Critical Reality ErrorThe Ternion cast its consciousness across the world, which now had scant few pockets of lifeless emptiness thanks to the experiments and crafts of the gods. It was particularly pleased with the great nexus of three rivers which cut through most of the continent, but on closer inspection the individual actions of the gods as they had gone about their uncoordinated work had created something horrible. The river flowed two ways simultaneously. The Ternion looked on in horror as the water of the river churned as though confused, flowing one way and another simultaneously, a fish was witnessed splitting in two and joining up again backwards, so its head sprouted from the end of its tail, pieces of flotsam would occasionally traverse the entire length of one stretch of the river only to suddenly dislocate in space and appear back at their point of origin.

Unable to think of a way to make the river flow three ways without causing more anarchic misery, the Ternion instead elected to raise a great barrier of mountains at the river's southern outlet, which became a new source, rather than a delta.

Fangs of the TriuneThe Ternion saw that with the barrier in place a peninsula rich in the pure white life it had created had been isolated from the mainland by an almost impassable range of mountains. Having witnessed the personal island of the God Eater, the Ternion raised up great jagged fangs of rock from the sea bed around the peninsula. Here the Ternion's creations would be protected from any mortal meddlers from outside.

ActionsHarvestPondering upon what to do with the final scrap of unformed land, Borishin strikes upon an idea. But his plan would take a large amount of life force. Spying fields of flowers bordering the thin places, he takes their essence. The brittle laws of that place would have been unkind in any case.

The Shifting IsleReversing the process he'd used to create the fossilized forest all that time ago, Borishin pours life force into the cold stone of the island and binds it in place. At first, it is as if nothing has changed, but over the course of centuries the land bucks and heaves, twitching as a slumbering giant might. Though slower by far than even the titans, the island would never be still, ever changing as valleys rose into mountains and mountains smoothed into plains.

« Last Edit: March 23, 2014, 09:00:16 am by Neoadept »

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Nefarious? Nearly. Ne’er-do-well? Never! Neither nearly names this narrator. Naive and knowledgeable, notorious and inscrutable, this nascent Nero is known naturally as Neoadept.

ActionsCarve CanyonsUea greatly admires the canyons which break up the desert to the south. They make the landscape far more interesting. She decides to create some of her own, creating a contrast with the mesas in the eastern part of the desert. The walls of these canyons reveal a stunning layered red and black surface, some of their walls flush with the walls of the mesas above, forming vertical drops of nearly 2 miles!

Sink Lake FurtherBorishin's activity among her wildflower fields attracts her notice, and although she arrives too late to stop it, she decides to do something about the lack of activity in the area. Returning to her deepened lake, she pushes again, and it sinks so far down that the sea to the southeast pushes back, a great finger of water carving through the soft limestone of the land like butter, arriving at the edge of the lake where it forms a mighty waterfall. Many tributaries of this new river split off and, making short work of the soft stone, begin creating systems of caves, sinkholes, and underwater streams.

ActionsThe Forest's HeartDeep withing the core of the Mistwoods was it's heart, the Boiling Sea, and at the core of the sea was a solitary island, isolated by the inhospitable waters surrounding it. While it's coast was incredibly dangerous, with slick stone cliffs eroded from the land by the tumultuous waters, further inland a paradise was forming. With the help of the hot, humid air of the sea, a lush tropical jungle was forming. Lod saw the forest heart grow and decided to help it on its way. Sweeping across the land, Lod collected samples from the lush biomes of other gods. The fruit of the God Eater's island, Uea's wildflowers, the Throok's giant fungi. Life from across the World was assembled on the island into an exotic menagerie.

Lod then promptly left the island to its devices. Cut off as it was from the rest of the world, Lod wished to see how the forest heart would grow.

Raise the SpireLod watched as many other gods built for them selves sanctuaries which they or their creations could enjoy. He decided that it was time he did the same, so in the far North, amidst some of the only raw Earth left, Lod built his bastion. He struck at the pair of islands of the coast of his snowy forests, and they erupted upwards into the sky. With a thunderous roar, they rose into a cluster of massive sea stacks, the tallest of which rose more than 3 kilometers into the sky.

Internal HeatingAs the cold of the North and the altitude began to set into Lod's spire, he decided to once again make use of the heat deep beneath the surface of the World. Carving fine channels through the rock of his spire, Lod created a path for the heat of the starlines to escape. However, his tool was not adept at such fine and detailed work as this, and several of the smaller sea stacks crumbled into the ocean as he worked. However, in the end their sacrifice proved to not be in vain, as the end result was breathtaking. A cluster of great towers reaching upwards to scrape the sky, with scattered geysers of steam erupting all across their surfaces, shrouding the spire in a thick cloud. Lod was pleased.

I. The gods in their wisdom filled the last of the empty spaces that remained on the face of the world. II. Alone of the lesser creatures of the world the Titans shared the gods' perception of Deep Time. The rest lived and thought and reproduced at a pace which far exceeded the rhythm of the Godheart.III. Many of the gods adjusted their perspective, so the passing the the ages would not seem so quick, and began to take more interest in the fragile beings which roamed the world...

ActionsLod's LimitLod lingered over his spire and looked out over what he created. It was magnificent, but as the clouds of the Mistwood gently rolled across the land, he couldn't help but be struck by how quiet it was. Lod thought about the Titans, massive and slow to action, yet unknowable in their intentions. Lod thought about the Zoel, their lives beginning and ending in an instant, yet capable of building great works that lasted the ages such as Dodeazodel. Finally, Lod thought about his spire. A great tower of stone and steam erected effortlessly, yet almost undone by his attempt to add fine details. He had built mountains, sown forests, and dug down to the starlines, but he was incapable of working on the small scale. Lod obsessed over this seemingly insurpassable limitation of his, until a solution finally hit him.

If he could not work on the scale of mortals, then he would create mortals to do it for him.

And so he returned to the Forest Heart. In the time since he left it, its ecosystem had stabilized. The eclectic mix of life calling it home adapting to life together. Amongst the countless beings of the Forest Heart, one sort in particular caught his attention. Small, 6-limbed humanoids with chitinous skin flitted through the treetops. Lod watched and wondered as they built complex hives amidst the branches of the trees. For an age he watched them, amazed at their work, but found something lacking. These creatures were perfectly suited for the purpose Lod sought, but lacked vision and creativity, and their work reflected it. Fascinating as their structures were, they were utilitarian, built for survival and nothing else.

And so Lod reached out to the beings, and shared with them his ability to wonder and dream. And Lod called out to all of the beings, and in a gentle voice spoke his first words.

You are the Skafir. You are the children of Lod. And you are capable of great things.

ActionsDrawing the SchemataThe Ternion saw how the thinking mortal races could accomplish tasks that their creators were less suited to. Casting its recollections back to its dislike of the chaotic sands, the Ternion wondered if this capricious substance could be brought under control by a lesser kind of being.

From living clay the Ternion shaped three bodies, as it had done with the Titans before, though these were not nearly so large or slow as their might forebears. The bodies lay inert and headless in the sand. The Ternion drew three circles in the sand above their necks and filled them with divine geometries describing thought and consciousness. The Ternion regarded these equations and saw that they yielded truths. The first schemata came into the world.

The schemata stood tall, with four arms. Above their necks floated brilliant circles of radiant light, filled with floating symbols describing the processes of their minds. Tripartite beings, the schemata must separately sustain their body, mind and souls, all of which can die if neglected or starved. Their bodies are sustained by food and water, their minds by discovery and learning and their souls by bringing order to chaos.

The NomadsThe schemata went forth and populated the deserts in which they were created, herding beasts and foraging for what sparse food and water was to be found in the arid wastes. Venerating their creator the Ternion they traveled the dunes as nomads, nourishing their souls by tracing elaborate mandalas in the sand, these would soon be lost to the wind, but the Ternion was pleased regardless.

The Three-All drew the first Triune Schemata and sent them to wander in the desert. Our ancestors were drifters, nomads: the Mandala-Eaters. Walking beneath the Godlines and tracing the Divine Geometries into the dunes...

ActionsBirth of the AnuraThe Throok feared for the stability of the Fractal Tool, but also deeply desired to continue spreading its beautiful patterns across the world. The Throok also desired to interact with the animate life it had created on a more personal level. The actions of Lod and The Ternion fit these goals perfectly, and so The Throok also set out to make a race.

The Throok descended into the fertile delta swamp it had created long ago to search for a suitable creature to serve as the basis for this race. It needed to be strong and sturdy, capable of building structures on a massive scale. On the edge of a pond, The Throok found exactly what it sought. A large horned frog sat on top of a wall of mud. The wall formed a rough circle nestled in the roots of a tree, forming a secluded pool of water within the pond. The Throok watched as the frog knocked down a portion of the wall and pushed fresh water into the pool, taking care not to let any of the multitude of tadpoles within escape. The frog repaired the wall and climbed back on top to keep watch over its young.

And so, having found a suitable creature, The Throok poured power into the pond. The young tadpoles matured in a matter of minutes, increasing massively in size, strength, and intellect. The adult frogs spilled out into the pond and onto the banks, blinking in the light and coming to terms with their new self awareness. But the parent frog was overwhelmed by this outpouring of power. All that was left of the doting guardian was a patch of shimmering light, a hole in space in the shape of the frog. The Throok stepped into this hole, taking on a physical form.

The frogs all turned to watch as a giant frog pulled itself up out of a patch of light much smaller than itself. It strode on two legs into the center of the pond where it still towered over them. It bore the same patterns on its skin as the multitude surrounding it, but of much brighter hue. Light shone from its eyes, and lines like thunder coursed across its body. When it croaked the Fractal Tool was visible in its glassy throat, a sphere of fine sand, constantly shifting in pattern and shape. Following the Great Frog's lead, one by one the others stood up on their hind legs, and gave their full attention as the Great Frog spoke.

"I am The Throok. I formed all the land you see about you. I formed all the life you see about you. And now I have formed you. You shall be my people, the Anura. You will follow my guidance, and together we will build many great and pleasing things."

Civilization SpreadsAnd so, the things The Throok spoke of came to pass. The Anura multiplied and spread through the swamp and along the tributaries of the great river that fed it. They were accompanied by large salamanders, whose ancestors had also been in that first pool. These salamanders became pets, food sources, and beasts of burden.

Villages and towns formed. Ponds were drained, streams were redirected, and food was grown, all shaped in the fractal forms that The Throok so loved. This all took place under the guidance of the Throok, for while the Anura were highly skilled at building, they lacked the personality and creativity to design things themselves.

But this arrangement worked, and from the patchwork of settlements, two cities formed. One near the sea was a wide city on a plain, made of sloping hills and flooded valleys formed by the Anura. The other was further upstream, on the border of swamp and forest. Here the ground was harder and there were more resources for construction. It was here that the god of the Anura took up residence. They had taken to calling her Mother Throok, and She did not object.

ActionsBe KnownSeeing more races spring forth into the world, Borishin naturally investigates. He dallies amongst the Skafir, deciding after his failure with the Zoel to abandon plans to take their forms for his own, though his research still causes much mischief.

Despite not actively seeking their attention, his numerous experiments allow many to guess at his existence, and even inspires awe and reverence in a few.

ExperimentLooking upon the Skafir, Borishin notes that they are constrained by the peculiarities of their bodies. One with the soul of an artist is stymied by his clumsy hands. What might have been a great builder is thwarted the weakness of his limbs. Seeing the problem, he decides to gift a few with the essence of his own Tools.

Those he blesses find that they can separate potions of their bodies with undue ease and, what's more exchange them amongst themselves. The artist acquires nimble hands at the cost of only a few week's bed rest, the builder strength for nothing more. Soon enough limbs of great worth are treated as heirlooms, passed from master to apprentice or father to son, the transplants maintaining their vitality even as their former owners age. With the limits of birth undone they gain unmatched adaptability.

ActionsManshesti korpaUea greatly admired the intelligence below. Finally, she thought. Life with some dignity. Still, she could do better. She wanted to create a people with a great sense of honour, respect, privacy and purity. She set to work: sculpting her subjects from mud and sand while her sister watched nearby, curious, amused. She made their eyes from two shiny dark pebbles, and cloaked them in a skin the colour of clouds. For a voice she took the roar of her waterfall, so her people would have strong steady voices which carried far.

The first Korpi animates, shivering nude on the frigid coast. He rubs his milk-white hands together for warmth and huddles close to Uea's breast. She whispers in his ear the words of the Korpi language, the tongue of the people, Korpa Kalosi. Thu zhili to, thu sutsi to, thu sutrukshi to.

Zhathbusi korpi thip bilənton sakorteThe Korpi are a hardy people, and quickly spread across the rough lands of the northeast plains. The Korpi congregate in many small towns, and spend their days farming, trading, and singing to one another. Though wary of outsiders, they are also loyal and trustworthy, and members of other races living amongst them is not unheard of.

Thu amulsusti tə razhentiThe Korpi frequently trade amongst themselves, and this gives them a greater proficiency with bartering, money, and division of labour.

ActionsMold the KlisuraIt was many ages before Salvarian awoke to realize it had been buried in mud. The god probably would have remained asleep, had there not been a disturbance in the mud that grabbed its attention. Something near the god was struggling. Waves of terror emanated from this disturbance, creating sorrow within the god’s being. Salvarian reached out to this being and spoke its first words.

Do not fear.

The words passed directly from Salvarian’s mind to the mind of the creature, for that was surely what the disturbance was. Salvarian tunneled through the mud, creating a pocket of air that surrounded the god as it moved towards the creature. What Salvarian found was a small lizard, no bigger than the god’s hand. It was covered in mud and gasping for breath having been trapped in the mud pot.

Although the creature was calm, Salvarian realized that the lizard did not understand what was happening. Nothing truly existed inside its body to allow it realize the great thing that had just occurred. Salvarian took the creature in its rocky hand. With eyes closed, the god channeled power into the tiny creature, using the surrounding mud as clay for its creation.

When Salvarian was done, the first Klisura was before the god. The creature was still small, and Salvarian felt a sense of loneliness. After thinking for a moment, the god sent out a wave of energy, calling forth the other lizards in the canyon. They came scurrying out from holes and underneath rocks. One by one, Salvarian touched them and molded them into new Klisura.

When the god was done, there was a large group of Klisura before him.

Masters of StoneworkThe assembled Klisura stood before Salvarian, waiting for the god to speak. When it did, there were no words to disturb the tranquility of the canyon. The voice projected from Salvarian’s mind to those that the god wished to speak to.

You are now Klisura. I have bestowed this intelligence upon you for the purpose of creation. You too are now creators. Use your gifts wisely.

With the wave of a stony hand, the knowledge of crafting was bestowed upon the Klisura. It was only natural that they would use the stone of the surrounding canyons as their resource.

Make the Canyons FertileSalvarian looked upon the canyons it had created and was displeased with how barren they were. Although the Klisura were made to live in the bleak landscape, Salvarian did not want its children to suffer. The god rose up into the sky and went back to the river that now row rolled down the mountains and flowed north.

Summoning its strength, the created god carved a channel into the sand that led towards the canyons. Upon reaching the edge, the water rushed over the sides, pouring down to the canyon floor. Salvarian was pleased with the beautiful waterfall it had inadvertently created.

The water continued its way down the canyon until it reached the point where Salvarian had been covered in the mudslide. What remained was just a larger crater, which the water eagerly occupied. From here the water went no further. The ground was too dry and the water too content to continue further down the canyon.

ActionsThe EffugiarchThe Ternion left its schemata to tame the desert and once again cast its consciousness around the world, seeking some idle amusement in watching patterns play themselves out. After a time its intangible presence came to Dodeazodel, the eldest city and home to the Zoel, first of the intelligent races. They did not roam free as the schemata did, but lived their immortal lives within the confines of their temple. Those which had perished in accidents now resided inside a great orb within the temple.

The Ternion had seen how the creatures of the world all eventually weakened and died, and had built this same vulnerability into the Schemata without much consideration. The little mortals he had created had come to terms with the concept of death, and their peace with it had encroached on their creator's consciousness. For these Zoel to live unendingly was an unnatural perversion, and was against the grain of the ternionic pattern of Time.

Reaching across the world the Ternion struck down an elderly schematic who was headman of his band of nomads, and wise in the ways of the desert and the world. Before the headman's glowing schematic circle could dissipate the Ternion gathered it up and plunged it into the body of a solitary zoel fisherman as he sailed his little boat off the coast of Dodeazodel. The old schematic headman's mind and soul was entangled with that of the zoel, and the Ternion appeared before him as a three interlocking circles and commanded him to gather up what followers he could from the zoel, and to teach them the proper ways of life and death.

ExodusThe prophet of the Ternion began to gather followers among the zoel. Though most decried his heresy, it had been many ages since their creator Zel had appeared to them, and some were beginning to doubt he would ever return with the souls of the Twelve. Gathering what adherents he could the prophet left Dodeazodel in a small fleet of simple boats, never to return. In their journey across water and land, the zoel who followed him became changed, for he taught them the mysteries of life, and how to reproduce.

I: The exodus fleet came to a coast on which many grey tuskbeasts could be seen. II: The prophet bade the zoel take note the beasts of the shore. They play out great combats. For what purpose? To mate, and fortify numbers. This is the way of the World. III: The prophet bid the zoel each slay a tuskbeast.IV: The followers gained ownership of the tusks and learned to mate and fortify their numbers.

AzazazThe prophet of the Ternion led his zoel heretics to a cape far away from Dodeazodel. Here the prophet taught the zoel in his charge the secrets of death, and in so doing died. By learning the secrets of death the zoel became the azol. The prophets tomb became the centre of the first azol city, Azazaz.

I. You have learned the secrets of life.II. Now mark well the mystery of deathIII. And the Prophet died, and his soul did not persist.IV. The zoel learned how to die, and became the azol.

The azol are granite-skinned humanoids with glassy eyes and brassy voices. Unlike their ancestors the zoel they have a single horn on their head, and can reproduce and die. They are considered savage heretics by the zoel thanks to their rugged and sometimes hedonistic lifestyles. They can be found mostly on coasts where they build ships to fish and hunt water beasts. Their long experience with boats makes them exceptional sailors.

ActionsOwn the SkiesBlessed with the drive bestowed upon them by Lod, the Skafir quickly spread across their island home, erecting a network of small settlements amidst the treetops. However they were stopped upon reaching the shores of the Boiling Sea. While they were capable of flight, the air above the sea was too hot and wet for their wings, and the distance too far. No Skafir who had attempted the journey had returned, but rather than deter them, the past failures only strengthened the Skafir's resolve to find a way across

Eventually a solution would present itself. Several individuals began to notice the way that leaves would drift over the sea, only to be caught in a strong updraft and propelled skyward. Inspired by this, the Skafir began work on gliders capable of taking advantage of the steam rising off the sea. After extensive testing and iteration, a working design was created, and a small fleet was built. The gliders allowed the Skafir to fly higher, faster and farther than ever before. The Skafir now were truly the masters of flight.

Cross the Boiling SeaNow capable of making the journey, many Skafir volunteered to be a part of the maiden voyage across the Boiling Sea. The extensive work put into the design of the gliders paid off, and all of them managed to make it to the opposite shore. After some exploration, many remained behind while others returned to the island with the gliders, in order to ferry the next wave of emigrants. The Skafir quickly established themselves all around the coast of the boiling sea, while preparing for additional journeys further out into the Mistwoods.

ActionsMomrusha KoripiThough the Korpi are a modest race, with Uea's encouragement a sprawling town becomes a giant city. Not far from the sacred spot where the first Korpi was born, Momrusha Koripi (literally Waterfall City) spans both sides of the huge waterfall rushing into the Korpi's sacred sea. Despite the Korpi's welcoming nature. the city is closed to all those who are not children of Uea. Therefore the continent is known only to other races by descriptions and drawings.

Both a thriving commercial centre and a deeply religious city of cathedrals and tributes to the mother-god, it is a sight to behold, with buildings dug into the cliff faces themselves, and hanging gardens concealed behind the rushing water of the falls.

The Birth of the MemaiEua could not simply stand by and watch her sister build great works. Especially not when these... creatures of hers were so... so boring! Two eyes, two legs, two arms, smooth skin, humble homes, etc etc. Something only Uea could come up with. On one particularly mischievous day, Eua decided she would create a race with the power to mock her sisters, and indeed, all others. A race SO boring that they actually had negative personality. So easily swayed and influenced that it effected their very form. One dark night, Eua stole into Momrusha Koripi and found the dullest, drabbest monastery on the plainest bluff overlooking the falls. There lived a mute ascetic monk, sworn to a life of celibate poverty in service of his god, her sister.

With a touch, she snapped his soul from his body, leaving behind a husk which the surrounding void rushed to occupy. The man was silent for a moment, before his bones began to warp and crack, and dark veins mottled his skin. His arms grew to twice their length, his spine twisted and hunched, and his eyes clouded over with white. Eua watched as he stumbled toward the railing separating them from the 200 foot drop, and cackled with glee to see him topple over the edge. He was just one drop among a thousand thousand, and nobody heard his screams.

ActionsTake FormContinuing his tour of the creations of other gods, Borishin swept to the realm of the Koripi. Such dull, predictable things, in need of his help even more than the Skafir had been. Here there was not merely a mismatch of mind and body, the whole race seemed doomed to mediocrity. They'd have to take from something beyond themselves. Perhaps if he trimmed their edges, left them fuzzy and adaptable...

And then the livelier twin beat him to the punch. Eua's mocking parody called to him in a way no other race had. They were malleable, impressionable, and most of all-

"You are empty," he purred, circling one in its watery lair.

"Empty," it agreed blandly.

Whether through luck, skill, or a connection to them through her sister, Eua had done to the Koripi what he had failed to do to the Zoel. Stripped out the pesky driving force at their heart, the impetuous little spark that had kept him out.

"You are open," he whispered.

"Open."

"Waiting for purpose."

"Purpose."

"You. Are. Mine!"

"Mine!" The creature snapped, lips pulling back in a predatory grin.

Borishin took a moment to glory in his new body, full of sensation and ready to shift and twist into any shape he might desire. It was everything he had dreamed of, and brought only one thought to mind:

"More!"

Sing Thy GloryLeaving the fetid hovel his host had lived in, Borishin danced through the streets of the underwater village, reveling in his new flesh and singing of its magnificence.

The other Memai of the village, impressionable and feeling some echo of his emptiness, found themselves nodding along. Why wait for substance freely given, when there was so much to take? And so the Thieving Depths were born.

Over the centuries, few of the Zoel, besides those who are now the Azol, ever ventured far from the sacred temple and old shores where new Zoel awake on occasion. In the southernmost reaches of the stony forest and river canyons, and increasingly among the greener parts of the world, intrigued by life that had arisen in their navel-gazing epoch, the Zoel began to modestly harvest the land.

Masters of Life and Death

Following the wails of the lost souls throughout the World, Zel came to recover eight in his travels and learned of Borishin. The voices of the remaining four were silent to him. Looking back upon the World, Zel saw countless civilizations beginning to spring up, and inhospitable features dominated the land. It had been so very long since he had used his strength to alter the nature of anything. The part of himself he had lost creating the orb of souls that now protected against mortality in Dodeazodel had regenerated, and he had grown strong. He passed his strength on to his people, and gave them not just protected life, but power over life. The priests of Zel now find their blessings and prayers answered - lost limbs reappear overnight, ailments are cured, and the recently deceased are reanimated. The knowledge of the medicine men of Dodeazodel advanced rapidly through a series of divine epiphanies about biology and medicine. Most importantly, the Zoel are now able to interact with the souls in the orb - in their dreamlike afterlife. A few among their thousands have even been known to ask a soul to return to life and find the loved one or holy man to whom they spoke lying awake on the shores, reformed by Zel. Even the rare foreign visitor can now receive the blessings of the Zoel priesthood. Before they lived for centuries - now they are ageless.

ActionsExploreThe Skafir spread voraciously through the Mistwood. With the unrivaled speed and maneuverability afforded to them by their gliders, it did not take long before they reached the great inland sea to the south of their home, and the mountain ranges raised by their creator eons before. It was here that they made first contact with both the Zoel and the Azol. They were curious races, with only 4 limbs and no wings, yet they towered over the Skafir in height. Any contact between the Skafir and these other beings has so far been brief, with the Skafir quick to move on after encountering the others. There was plenty of land to lay claim to, and the Skafir saw no need to fight other races over land that they had possessed first.

Hew the MountainsAs the Skafir moved into the mountain ranges, they were often faced with challenging terrain and hostile environments. It was very different than the Mistwoods they were accustomed to, and so they had no choice but to learn to adapt. They had had some experience working stone in the petrified forests along the coast, but the mountains were a far more challenging quarry. So they experimented, and iterated, and learned, and before long became adapt at constructing an array of tools to help them work this new environment. The techniques learned could then be applied to other fields, and other environments moving forward. The Skafir quickly established themselves as among the best tool-smiths in the world, able to create quality equipment for any job.

ActionsFreedom from TransienceIronically, when the prophet of the azol perished to teach them death, its soul persisted, now a strange gestalt of schematic and zoel. Drawn back to its birthplace in the desert, it came upon a band of nomadic schemata drawing mandalas in the sand before moving on to places where the sand was still undisturbed so they could continue to feed their souls. The soul-being entered the body of a schematic nomad and, in an action never before seen by any schemata, erased the mandala as soon as it was completed, immediately making room for a new one. Free of the need to move to new, flat sands, the schemata could settle in one place. The schemata who opted to erase their mandalas and stay in one place became known as the Pattern Destroyers, their flaunting of the Ternion's plan for their race allowing them to achieve great wonders.

The CityThe soul-being remembered cities from its time as a zoel, and showed the schemata how to build permanent homes. Great mud bricks were baked and formed into squat pyramidal buildings to house the schemata. To sustain their bodies, they began to grow crops in the mud of riverbanks. Each schematic would now carry a pouch of sand with which to draw mandalas when it felt the soul-hunger. The only thing the city lacked was the mental stimulation of seeing new horizons every day and new starlines at night. Many schemata still traveled away from the city for long stretches to avoid intellectual famine.The schemata had no language, since they communicated by thought alone. The closest thing the city had to a name was its thought-form: δ

ActionsSpread FurtherUea pushes her people onward south through the misty woods, claiming more of the foggy temperate coast. The waters support myriad fishing and trading towns. As the Korpi migrate further and further from Momrusha Koripi, their dress, language, and even appearance changes. Along the western coast, the Korpi are slim and agile, recognizable by their flexible waterproof clothing and rubbery airtight housing. On the northern strait and the icy wastes, the Korpi are swathed in furs and live half on the sea, depending on the fish of the fertile seas on either side. In their capital, the Korpi become slender, graceful, and by some more critical accounts, greedy and tyrannical, valuing aesthetics and theocratic purity above all else.

The Korpi are not frightened by the Azol - they had both been aware of the other for many centuries. In fact, the promise of greater and more exotic trade is what drew the Korpi south in the first place.

ActionsThe Klisura SpreadAs Salvarian slept, the Klisura spread further down the canyon systems, marching all the way to the southern sea. They were still a disorganized race, living in smaller family groups that were spread throughout the canyons. In the south, the land was much harder to work, given the lack of fresh flowing water. It was not long before the Klisura referred to one another based on their living location within the canyons.

Dodeazodel, the first city in the world, inhabited still by the first sentient beings to come to exist, has not stagnated in its introversion. Initially, the city was an array of mere corridors and halls; rooms for storage; rooms for prayer. Over the centuries the most brilliant immortal architects have diligently worked to expand and glorify the city where heaven resides. Now all look upon its facade with awe. The beauty of the immense and delicately carved interior pales in comparison to the jet black parapets protruding from the cliff into which the city was carved. The euponious choirs of Zoel in religious song flow from behind drapes in cliff-side windows, and the highest towers can see as far as the Azol River Valley. This sacred place must be fortified and protected. Always and forever.

ActionsA Song on the WindStepping from sea, Borishin continues his tour of the world in his new flesh, walking south through the ancient stone forest he had founded when the world was young and past the mighty titan he had gifted with life. There, in the shifting dessert sands, he found the Schemata and their mandalas. The secrets of their cognition were laid bare to him, written in the air above their bodies.

Scrawling the signs in the sand as they did, he soon grew frustrated. No matter how complex the designs, no matter how well he copied, they were only lines in the dirt. To truly match the complexity, he realized, they would have to be capable of change, movement, they would have to live.

For a moment he considered donating a measure of his own power to grant them life, but soon discarded the notion. What was his was his alone, not to be parceled or shared out. Instead he sought out those small sparks of life that lived and scrambled beneath the earth in multitudes and, seizing their tunnels, twisted them into the proper shapes.

Where once there were only beasts there was now a sluggish intellect, not held by any one of them but existing between their actions. What was more, creatures that had once preyed upon them, the birds and serpents and prowling things, soon became enthralled by the same spell.

The Manifold, as he named them, cared not for its component parts. The scurrying masses which made up its bulk offered themselves freely to those members in need of nourishment, which themselves die gladly in defense of the whole. What had been a fierce competition for survival became a regimented order that spread across the land.

ActionsExpandThe Skafir continued to push outward across the land, and before long encountered the Korpi. The Skafir were impressed by the many trading towns near the coast, and the variety of exotic goods found available within. Able to appreciate the craftsmanship of the Korpi's wares, the Skafir were eager to pursue a trade relationship with their neighbors.

DigTheir relationship with the Azol however was not of to as good a start. Along the coast as well as their border with the Azol, Skafir settlements were often harassed by raiding parties from the other race. In the interest of creating a proper stronghold and strengthen their position in the region, the Skafir founded Tsekod, their first true city. Hewn out of the mountains that their creator had erected eons before, the Skafir tunneled deep beneath the surface to create their subterranean city.

ActionsThe DoxuraThe Ternion had often felt an affinity for the Throok and its fractals, which often made patterns pleasing to the Ternion. Observing the froglike Anura as they toiled in the mud, the Ternion felt disappointment, their only redeeming quality was their three stage life cycle, from egg to tadpole, to adult. Even this was superficial, since the eggs and tadpoles didn't seem to be good for anything, content to laze in their spawning pools.

Plucking some Anura eggs from their pool the Ternion tinkered with them, changing the race. Far from being lifeless spheres, these eggs would be blessed with untold wisdom and power, each endowed with the soul and knowledge of their ancestors and capable of wielding a shadow of the power of creation, which mortals in their ignorance call magic. In order to check the power of the mighty eggs, the Ternion ensured that they would lose the memories of their former life when they hatched and with it their magical powers.

The tadpoles were nimble and quick, and the Ternion saw to it that they would hatch with hands with which to make craft and interact with their world.

The Ternion set down the new eggs in a warm lake some distance from the territory of the Anura and named them Doxura. It watched as they eventually hatched and developed, the tadpoles making shelters for themselves from woven reeds. When they grew into adults though, something was obviously amiss.

Brute StrengthThe process the Ternion had put in place which made the eggs lose memories of their past lives when they hatched into tadpoles continued when the tadpoles grew into adult frogs sapping their memories, their personalities and their free will. The adults were mindless, fit only to be ordered around in simple tasks by the eggs and tadpoles. The Ternion saw this and decided that weakness of mind should be compensated, and granted the adult Doxura frogs supernatural strength, they would always be the strongest of the mortal races proportional to their size.

ActionsLeft to Their own DevicesThe Throok meant to observe and guide the Anura from their capitol city they had named after Her. But there was so much activity in the world, and She wanted to see it all. So Mother Throok would often leave Her physical form for long stretches of time to move about the world and observe the activity in it. She warned those in the city ahead of time, so they were not alarmed when Her physical form dimmed and turned to seemingly inert stone.

But left on their own, interactions between the Anura took a dark turn. The Anura did not die of old age, only physical trauma. Once they reached adulthood their growth slows greatly, but never stops. So a strict hierarchy based on size and age formed. The greatest of the Anura, those who remained that were first raised by Mother Throok, mostly resided in the two cities. But it was common for towns and villages to be governed by a truly giant chieftain, centuries or millennia old. Each town arranged the surrounding land and water based on a different fractal pattern. When the patterns of different towns ran into each other, the outcome was often violent. If the two patterns differed too greatly or if the chieftain was set on spreading her pattern to that particular area, brutal conflict broke out. These battles were not fueled by hate or anger, the Anura were not capable of such emotion. It was a simple desire to act on the instructions of their god and spread Her fractal patterns through any obstacle they met. When the battle was over and the dead and vanquished were eaten, it was not an act of revenge or some attempt to absorb the power of their enemies. To leave so much meat to rot would simply be a waste. And so the various fractal patterns maintained a rough equilibrium, and the population of potentially immortal Anura remained stable. And through fighting themselves, the Anura became experts at combat, as well as shaping the earth.

A Quest is GivenThe Throok was horrified when She finally noticed the violent behavior of Her children. She decided the Anura needed a task to distract them from their fighting, one that would hopefully prove beneficial to them and to Her. Returning to Her physical form and filling Her vast lungs, Mother Throok's voice echoed across all lands inhabited by the Anura.

"My Children, cease your building, cease your fighting! I have a new and noble task for you all! When we created the World, some of my clumsier fellow gods dropped the Tools they used to help Me form what you see about you. I want you to find these Tools and bring them to Me, and I shall use them to make the world even better. Search Earth and Water, find anything unusual or unnatural, and bring it to Me in a year's time. Those who find any of the missing tools shall be greatly rewarded!"

And so a year passed, and representatives from every city, town, and village came to the Throok's city with what they hoped were Tools of the Gods. The Throok looked across what Her people had brought and sighed. Before Her was one sack full of albino newts and a small mountain of rocks, each with at least one flat, smooth surface. She smiled weakly and thanked Her people. With a few waves of Her arms, the city was remade. Buildings of wood and mud bricks were replaced by buildings made of the stones. The stones fit together perfectly so that no mortar was required. At the center of the city She formed a vast domed building of white stones, Her new temple. The albino newts, She told the awed Anura, would be raised into guardians for the temple.

As She sent the gathered Anura to a great feast in their honor, a group of latecomers emerged from the woods. A group of thirty large Anura carried between them a golden cauldron. Just a couple of their size should have been able to carry the cauldron, but the thirty clearly strained under its weight. The Throok plucked the cauldron from the nest of ropes and planks supporting it and studied it carefully. She called for the one who discovered this object, and a young male stepped out from behind his exhausted elders.

"Send for your mate, have her join you here. The two of you will live with Me in My temple."

New ChildrenAnd so the two young Anura moved to the capitol city and took up residence in Mother Throok's temple. There they lived for several months before She addressed them.

"You alone of all the Anura were able to find a Tool of The Gods, and so I will show you great favor. You shall be elevated above your age, shoulder to shoulder with your elders. You will sire a new people who will follow in your path. For the young and the old will now stand as equals."

Mother Throok's eyes and throat glowed, and the two young frogs instantly grew to match the size of the oldest of their race. She left the two to their own devices and retreated to an inner room of the temple, which contained the golden cauldron. Closing Her eyes, The Throok's physical body turned to stone and the cauldron vanished in a flash of light.

The Throok returned from the Void during the Anura's mating season and found the pool within the grounds of the temple filled with eggs. It was a cool, cloudy morning, and by The Throok's design every Anura in the city was still asleep. As She stood by the pool the clouds parted slightly and a single shaft of light shone down on The Throok. She inflated Her throat, and its glassy surface and the Fractal Tool within seemed to absorb the light. Beams of light in every color of the rainbow shot from Her throat and danced across the pool. The eggs vibrated and shrank under the light, but quickly developed into tadpoles. Soon fully grown adults stood in and around the pool. The clouds opened further and the new race blinked in the sunlight. They were much smaller than the original Anura, but their skin was adorned in vivid hues and patterns and the spark of intelligence and curiosity shone in their eyes. The Throok smiled, and Her voice again echoed across the lands of the Anura.

"Awake, my Children, for this is a glorious day! Your hierarchy is broken, your fighting will cease. You have new, Bright Brothers and Sisters! They may seem small and temporary to you, but you will treat them as equals. You, the Elder siblings, will work together with the Younger. Their strengths will compliment your own. Now it is time to leave the swamps and wetlands. Together you will spread out through the world as I intended, and you will build not just by the patterns I gave you, but by your own designs!"

Children, Go Where I Send TheeAnd as The Throok Spoke, it came to pass. The Bright Anura quickly multiplied and spread through the towns, villages, and cities of the original race, now known as Elder Anura. Soon they pushed out from the swamps. They filled the forests up to the edge of the mountain ranges, and moved down into the grassland plains. The Elders still stuck to the wet areas, but the waxy skin of the Bright Anura made them less reliant on water. As they moved into the grasslands, The Throok made sure to keep their interactions with the Doxura to a minimum. The Throok held The Ternion in high regard. Their works in the world had some similarities, and they had inspired each other in the past. But She found the Doxura, a deviation from Her plans, to be unsettling at best. The next time The Ternion wished to collaborate, She hoped It would ask first.

A Quest is Given AgainOnce the Anura had spread into new lands, The Throok again gave the command to search for lost Tools. The Bright Anura had discernment enough to not think every flat rock they found might be a tool, but they didn't have much more luck. But one day a Bright Anura was searching in the forest when she found a rectangular plate of unknown material wedged in the roots of a tree. She pulled it loose with surprising ease. The plate was milky white, slightly translucent, and cool to the touch. On its surface were raised symbols. She did not know the language of these symbols, but as she ran her fingers over them she knew the Word that was written, and whispered it without realizing. As she did so a small stream of fire leapt from her mouth and pierced a hole through the plate. She clasped a hand over her mouth, then shouted as the plate melted onto her other hand. She tried to wipe it off, but it absorbed into her skin. When she thought of the Word again she found her hands filled with fire that did not harm her, but burned anything else as normal flames would.

And so the Bright Anura discovered one of the Tools of the Gods. A Word, a Thought, that gave them some control over the element of fire. It became their prized possession, a guarded secret not shared with the Elders, not even known to every Bright Anura. But they whispered the Word over the eggs of some of their pet salamanders. It turned them into little elemental creatures, a constant source of heat and light. With such constant access, the Bright Anura became masters of Fire and the Forge.

A Helping HandThe Throok was pleased for the success and discoveries made by Her Children, but the quests for Tools weren't really meant for thier benefit. She had hoped they would find the portion of the Fractal Tool She had lost, or the Prying Tool that had torn it from Her grasp so long ago. She decided that She would have to survey the world for signs of Her lost Tools Herself. But this time She knew better than to leave Her Children unsupervised for too long. So She made a new physical body that trusted members of Her host of spirits could inhabit. She formed this body from muddy water so that it could shift in shape and size. This way the Guardian could appear as an Elder or Bright Anura, whichever was more appropriate.

And so, content that Her Children could now create for themselves and were watched over, Mother Throok again left Her body as a cold stone statue in Her temple while She wandered the World.

ActionsChangelings Amongst ThemWhile the rest of the Memai languish in shiftless apathy, the Thieving Depths strike out from their watery homes, going out into the world to take the solidity denied them by their nature. Living amongst the steady races, they would become them, live with them, mate, and eventually return to the sea weighed down with a life lived and tales to tell... And frequently, a collection of children ready to be remade in their parent's image.

So living, there is little they do not know of their neighbors. They are superior at espionage.

ActionsSpread UnchallengedThe Skafir moved quickly over the land with their unrivaled mobility, spreading their influence further out.

Hit PaydirtAs the tunnels of Tsekod snaked further and further through the mountain ranges, the Skafir crossed the path of many mineral and ore veins. Quickly realizing the potential of these new materials, Tsekod began to grow into a mining hub, producing vast quantities many useful metals and valuable gemstones.

Protect PaydirtWith the abundant resources present in Tsekod and the continuing presence of raiders along the waterways, the Skafir decided that it was important to firmly secure their possestion of the region. And so, a standing army was formed in Tsekod to both help keep the peace within the bustling city, and protect it from any outside threats.

ActionsConsume ALLThe Korpi continue their spread, their adaptability and general hardiness allowing them to convert vast tracts of emptiness into arable farmland and small hamlets. Truly, the Korpi are the greatest race.

After centuries of training, one thousand of the most skilled Zoel have been gathered within the capital to be blessed by their prophet, in defense of their hallowed halls, until time should come to an end.

The Founding of Readel

The Zoel, though they knew little of seafaring beyond their excursions in shallow waters along unpeopled shores, did not take long in their parapet-gazing to discover that their vessels could not leave the lake upon which Dodeazodel had been founded. The Godheart, being so nearly overhead, caused water to evaporate much more quickly around the God Eater's Isle. As a result, the continent-spanning river basins and mountained gorges to the east and west all flowed toward the World's center, where the climate produced much of the rains that crossed the continent; only the Azol had been so masterful as to defy the currents and settle far in the eastern mountains.

Realizing that this may very well isolate them from future opportunities and knowledge, the Zoel founded Readel at the mouth of the great river. A black stone fortress overlooking the bay from upon a cliff, astride the river, Readel would be the final destination of anything traveling with the current down the rivers of the World. Many Zoel, aged and bored of song and philosophy, rushed to settle the shores around the southern edge of the bay and the cliffsides of the God Eater's isle.

Zol the Eternal Voice

Zol, the first of the Zoel, having experienced the birth of all living beings that crawled the face of the world, was the wisest and oldest of all the Zoel. Zel, feeling the twisted knot of the World starting to bend his being in constricting ways, decided to manifest his consciousness within Zol's own, moving his servant by divine inspiration and unknown motivations. The born-again Zol had a voice of the divine, and when he spoke, all that heard knew that it was the song of a god that came dripping out of his mouth.

The Church of Eternal Life

Zel watched with pleasure as his children, as ageless as their World, continued to thrive. Each and every one of them, a complex and experienced entity. But there were others - when Zel saw the Korpi he was astonished. Adaptable and prolific, they were rapidly spreading over the World in number and variety. They spoke and thought like his people, but like the Azol, who made the choice to live but one life, their immortal souls were lost into the void when they perished. They became Memai, forgetting their lives in mere decades and becoming little more than shades, drifting through time aware of only the present and recent past.

In light of this, Zol, speaking in the voice of the divine, proselytized among distant Korpi trading posts and coastal waters. He founded a church among their many nations, rapidly spreading the knowledge that should the Korpi pledge their souls to Zel and his faith, they would be graced with an afterlife and the chance at reincarnation, so long as a presiding Zoel priest is able to put the blessing of Zel upon them. Many industrious Korpi were swayed by the voice of Zel, and crude waystation shrines were quickly established along the coasts leading to the hallowed halls being carved in the west.

ActionsKeep What You KillEventually, Borishin's tour of the world brought him back to where he'd begun. Entering Dodeazodel, his fluid form blended perfectly amongst the Zoel. Distantly, he recalled walking that barren shore when the world was young. He had taken something, but not kept it...

It was not a pleasant thought.

Following some deep instinct that knew what was his, he entered the grand temple and wormed his way through its halls. Deep within, he found a chamber with eight occupants, each of whom fairly sang to his senses.

They were also actually singing, but he paid that little mind.

These eight he had taken, the First Dead of the world, and yet they were not his. He found the very concept revolting and, with a wave of his shears, took them once more.

Like puppets with their strings cut, the eight corpses fell, and he frowned in distaste as he recalled why he hadn't kept the useless things. Nevertheless, the thought that they might be taken by someone else was even less palatable. Recalling the signs of the schemata, he decided to use them once more. But rather than the ever shifting designs that governed their thoughts, he decided he would use a single, unchanging mark. A mark of his own, that would declare them forever his.

With his shears, he carved the sign into their flesh. A simple act, but every act of a god has untold consequences. The mark was truly his own, the first thing he had ever created rather than stolen and redistributed. And, like all acts of creation by the gods, it took a small portion of himself with it.

Ignoring the sensation, he advanced to the far end of the room, where four obsidian sarcophagi lay waiting. There had been twelve First Dead, but apparently only eight had wandered home. No matter. He stole the stones' strength and tore through it like paper to reach them, and marked them as well.

Stirring, the twelve rose once more, filled not with Zel's light but Borishin's covetous essence. Each knew, in the pit of their being, that they were owned creatures, and Borishin their master. They also shared their creator's deep and abiding greed, desiring thralls and possessions of their own, even if such holdings were their Lord's by extension.

And thus the first Revenants were crafted from the First Dead, and fled the city to found a kingdom in the south, where each would take their own line of servants from the dead of the world.

Wandering EyeBorishin had put a portion of himself into the First Dead, and through them into every Revenant they sired. But what is his is never truly given, and in those infinitesimal parts his power was manifest. Borishin's Wandering Eye was of the whole of the race, and slipped freely from body to body, watching the world through borrowed eyes and reporting to its master.

ActionsAcross the fields of mudThe great city of the schemata pattern destroyers flourished, and soon smaller settlements sprang up with populations of thousands of schemata, fed by farmers who raised crops in the muddy plains where water was plentiful. As they expanded the schemata met the korpi. These mortals were an enigma to the schemata, since they could not see their thoughts. As far as schemata were concerned the korpi were simply sophisticated animals, their villages and farms no different to the mounds of the desert termites. Communication between the two races seemed impossible, and when the korpi approached schemata settlements they would be driven off with sticks and stones, no different to any other beasts.

Gift of the TitansIn their expansion across the mud plains the schemata came upon the titans of sand and mud. Awed by these colossal beings the wisest sages from the city set out to study and commune with them. By observing the forces and divine geometries that animate these beings the Pattern Destroyers learn how to move and animate earth, sand and mud by replicating these divine principles in their own thought patterns.

In the Image of the Mother - [Command Avatar (Create Subrace), 1 cost]

Not Quite as Planned - [Advance Race, 0 cost]

Inde Vallem - [Create City, 4 cost]

Power Remaining: 3Running Bonus: +2

ActionsIn the Image of the MotherThe Anura enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity under the watch of The Guardian. But the spirits that controlled the Guardian were troubled. They greatly desired for the Anura to spread into the mountains of the Fractal Range. They suspected that deep in the mountains They might uncover The Throok's missing Tools. But the climate of the mountains was too harsh and dry for any of the Anura to survive for long. The Guardian puzzled over this for some time, and decided that They would create Their own breed of Anura.

Under cover of night, the Guardian journeyed to the heart the Fractal Range. They had forbidden the Anura for traveling too far into the river valley that led to the highest peak. The Guardian had set it apart, for this central peak where The Throok had thrice poured out power still radiated the strength of Creation.

From this central peak the Guardian took a piece of white stone and journeyed to a settlement on the edge of the Fractal Range. With dawn drawing near, They found a nursery pool teeming with tadpoles of the Bright Anura. The Guardian crushed the white stone into a fine sand, spread it across the pool, and poured Their own power into the water. But Their power was not enough. The water frothed and churned, the tadpoles convulsed in visible pain. The Guardian called out in panic to the rest of the Host of spirits in the Void, and they responded. As the Godheart shone across the world, a column of light shot down from the Void and struck the pool, stabilizing the transformation within. As with the Elder and Bright Anura before them, a new line, the Stone Anura, now blinked in the light of their first day.

Not Quite as PlannedThe Guardian had meant to create Anura of smooth, pure white stone to inhabit and cultivate the Fractal Range. But because their creation faltered at the start, something rather different had appeared from the pool. The fully grown Stone Anura had rough skin in shades of grey, and the males sported jet black spikes along their face and shoulders.

One aspect of the Guardian's intended design had been carried out perfectly, though. Despite being frogs, the Anura didn't jump very much. At least, not enough for the Guardian. The Stone Anura would be the greatest leapers of any race in the world. A few tried out their legs, hurling themselves high into the air and crashing back to earth. One tried to jump straight forward, but did not yet know his strength. He launched himself at a tree, and punched right through it's trunk. The tree collapsed in a heap as the Anura stood up dizzily. It was then that the Guardian was gripped with fear. They remembered the mistakes made by The Throok's spirits in the past, and the Throok's terrible rage. How would She react to this unplanned new race, this meddling with her People?

Inde VallemThe Guardian quickly ushered the Stone Anura away into the mountains before they were noticed. They were lead deep into the mountains and there they flourished, digging caves and passages into the stone. Only when the Stone Anura had built their own city, did the Guardian reveal their existence to the rest of the Anura. Their city, Inde Vallem, was dug into the foothills surrounding the central peak of the Fractal Range, forming a ring around the great mountain. The Guardian explained that the very power of the mountain had formed the Stone Anura, and the city became a pilgrimage site, Elder and Bright Anura traveling up the river valley to behold this holy place.

ActionsSpread of the Shuela KorpiMany Korpi, bent to the will of the false god Zel, begin abandoning their homes and their mother, and follow various trade routes west, some landing at the coast near Azazaz and disappearing for months in the mountains, some braving the dusky woods the Skafir. Many do not make it, but those that do are welcomed with open arms by the Zoel, and baptized into their new faith.

These "Shueli" Korpi are critical of the dogmatic and racist practices of their so-called capital, where non-Korpi are forbidden and the word of the Misi, the High Priest, is law. Over time, these Korpi gain the trust of the Zoel and begin to spread southeast, building up the fertile lands on either side of the river Shuelai.

Foundation of Luton Piti, Town-Upon-WaterLuton Piti started out as a small trading village - but has built up into a busy market town. The buildings of Luton Piti come right up to the banks of the Shuelai on either side, with land value driving them higher and higher. The town, therefore, is like an artificial gorge, the sides of which are studded with colorful windows, rusty terraces, and scented hanging plants.

Appearance aside, the city is renowned for its wealth. A rapidly growing, and notoriously laissez-faire metropolis.

Foundation of Tetsa Piti, Magic TownOnly a few days away by carriage is a far more somber town, Tetsa Piti. Discovered by the settlers of Luton Piti weeks before they chose a settling site, the location and existence of Tetsa Piti was kept secret for nearly a century. There's something strange about the air there - it sings, swirls, roils, and ripples, almost intoxicating. Its location, far into the desert, and right beneath the godheart itself, makes it extremely hot. During the Summer, its few residents must flee underground. During the Winter, they make a meager living selling whatever they find, blown in on the wind. There is much to find in Tetsa Piti.

ActionsFill in the gapsAs the Korpi pushed westward, Skafir expansion shifted to focus on the areas still untouched. While relations with the Korpi were good and trade flowed freely between their people, the two races still lived mostly independent from eachother, save for a few outliers in border towns and major trade hubs. Their shared intrests in trade and foreign goods had so far led to friendly interactions between the two peoples, and the two neighbours enjoyed a prosperous peace.